Is It Wrong to Go Berserk in a Dungeon?
by A Dyslexic Writer
Summary: Guts was betrayed by the person he cared for the most... again... After escaping the World of the Eclipse a second time, Guts and party find themselves in a new land with a dungeon full of monsters that can be killed for money. Time for Guts to go to work. Hopefully all the killing will distract him enough to stop him from going off the deep end. (Large Berserk Cast, Casca Bashing)
1. Chapter 1

**I own nothing and no money is being made.**

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Faces. There were faces everywhere. Large and small, all of them red, contorted into every horrible expression imaginable; fear, pain, hate, greed, rage, sorry, indignity. The cries of the damned souls nearly drowning out the screams of the man who ran across the top of them.

"Casca! Casca!" Guts screamed again and again as he ran of the dark red faces towards a spot in the middle distance underneath a black sun, his long black cape hovering behind him in the wing from his mad dash, his black metal armor ringing out from each step. He had to reach her before it was too late.

Casca, the beautiful, dark skinned spit fire that Guts loved stood upon the hill in front of him, right in front of the monster which had once been Griffith. The dark red armor which characterized him as an Apostle had mixed in with the white armor he showed the mortal realm, the helmet bearing the fearsome visage of the hawk had been removed to reveal his soft skin, white hair. Though his eyes had changed. Gone where the clear sky blue human eyes, replaced by the slitted yellow of a serpent.

Monsters appeared, hideous deformed things from mankind's worst nightmares, trying to bar his path. Guts never even took his eyes off of his goal as he swung his massive steel sword. The slab of metal, darkened by the blood of the thousands that's blood had stained it ripped through the demons like wet parchment. It was an unholy sword, cursed by the deaths it had wrought, becoming more of a symbol than a mortal weapon, a tool that could even kill a god.

"Casca!" Guts cried, but the dark skinned woman didn't respond.

"Casca..." Griffith said, his steady voice carrying over all others, reverberating in the world of the eclipse. "Tell me, would you accept the contract? Will you discard Guts in order to be with me. Do you wish to be my queen?"

"Casca!" Guts screamed, one final time before she gave her answer. The one he had dreaded. The one that the Skull Knight predicted she would give. The one that, deep down, he always knew she would give.

"I do."

Griffith smiled. It was still an angelic smile, not matter how much of a monster he was. His dark cape spread out like wings and enveloped her as a dark purple light started to shine from the behelits she had been holding in her hand.

A beam of light erupted from the evil trinket, twisting through the air before striking Guts on the left side of his neck. The man staggered in shock as he felt it being burned into his flesh. A second sacrificial brand mirroring the one that Griffith had given him. He could hardly feel the pain as it burned him, burning so bad that blood poured out of it.

He watched as Griffith's cape unfolded to reveal Casca, dressed in dark purple armor which closely resembled Griffith's. Her strong brown eyes were gone, replaced by a hollow yellow color.

Guts single usable eye widened. His face struggled to display a thousand emotions. The feeling of betrayal washed over him and dragged him under. He felt old wounds being torn open in his heart. He felt sorrow beyond what any other person could possibly understand as, for the second time, the person he cared for the most in the world discarded him, using him as a human sacrifice. Condemning his soul for their own selfish purposes.

He felt true and bitter sorrow... but he also felt something else. Something much much hotter. Something that had always been boiling inside of him. RAGE!

Guts let out an animalistic scream. One that seemed to silence the rest of the world. The metal plate on the back of his Berserker Armor twisted upwards, forming into the helmet that looked like a rabid black dog with terribly sharp teeth.

All reason went to the wind, all feeling in his body disappeared, a limitations were forgotten. There was only one thing left to him, one instinctive need.

KILL! DESTORY! RIP! TEAR! MURDER!

He moved with a speed that could not be human. Lifting up his massive black sword with a single hand out to his side as he closed the distance between himself and the Apostles who had once been the people he loved the most in the world.

Griffith raised a hand, and an invisible pressure pushed back against the black beast, momentarily disrupting its footing before it once again pushed forward through the barrier of air with a horrible lurch, overwhelming all the rules of reality through pure monstrous strength.

The slab sword moved through the air, ready to slice the two traitors in half, only to be blocked by Griffith's own slender steel blade. Forged from unearthly metals, the thin blade managed to withstand the tremendous force behind the black beast's attack. The ground trembled from the blow, armor rattled, nearby monsters who were preparing to help their masters staggered from the shock wave the emanated from the point of contact. Even so, Griffith's face did not change. He still bore the expression of a man who was staring down at an insect.

But even if his expression hadn't changed, his arm still shook from the strange of blocking the human's attack.

Casca moved in, the armor on her arm was long and ended in a sharp point, which she wielded like a rapier. Guts shifted back, crouching like an animal as he dodged the first few strikes. But then he swung his cape forward, letting it get tangle in the weapon before yanking the woman closer, his helmet seeming to open slightly, like a pair of jaws as he went to bite her head off.

Casca's hand came up, grabbing onto the top of Guts's helmet as she struggled to keep the sharp metal teeth from digging into her flesh. Though the insane man's strength was slowly overwhelming even her monstrous power. "You always were just a savage dog." The apostle hissed. It might as well not have bothered. Guts could not hear her.

In the end, Guts had to abort the attempt to kill the woman as Griffith's saber went for his head. He pulled Casca into the way of the attack, making Griffith stop before throwing the woman at him and swinging about his sword in order to try to kill them both in one strike.

Griffith moved back, pulling Casca with him as the hound nipped at his heels, swinging the massive blade in an over arching strike that split open the giant face they had been standing on, sending up a spray of blood.

Guts took another massive step forward, bringing the sword up above him with both hands before swinging down with all his might. Griffith moved forward, prepared to riposte the attack.

History repeated itself yet again as the two blades met. Griffith's ethereally enhanced saber snapped under the weight of Guts's cursed blade. Blood flew through the air, Griffith's blood. The God Hand member barely avoided a killing blow as he manipulated the space around him to twist himself out of the way of the massive sword. The wind from the slash allow batted him away.

"Griffith!" Casca said, moving to his side as the spray of blood from the split open face settled.

Guts stood there, his right arm twisted in an odd angle as the massive force he had put behind the previous attack and snapped the bone like a twig, blood dripped out from the gaps in his armors. But the Black Beast didn't care. The arm twisted back into place in a motion that would have made most moral men sick.

Griffith brushed away Casca's touch as he stood tall, staring at Guts. "To think after all this time. After everything I have become. You have still found a way to attempt to climb the mountain for which I stand upon the peak." Griffith said his voice still calm. Bright white light started to leak out from underneath Griffith's armor and the world seemed to tremble. "But no matter what you do Guts, you are still only a mortal man, where I am a god."

The light grew blinding, becoming like a star that had appeared on the world's surface. Guts shielded himself with his massive sword, as much to protect himself from a sneak attack as to guard his eyes from the light.

Wind swept over the bloody ground as the sound of batting wings shook the world of the eclipse. Guts fell to one knee, sinking his claws into the flesh like ground in order to stop himself from being battered around.

Griffith's ethereal body, true form as a Apostle, had been revealed. A massive white bird of prey, big as a castle with six large white wings. Every feather on its body glowed with a mesmerizing light. It's beak and claws looked as though they were made of pure gold, and its eyes were as blue as the sky in the mortal realm. On the bird's forehead, nearly unseeable from the ground unless you already knew it was there, was a face, Griffith's human face, so pale that it nearly blended in with the white feathers.

It was a form of beauty. A form to be worshipped. The form... of the perfect killer. The existence that sat at the very top of the food chain. A monster that could and would rip apart everything beneath him. The ruler of the sky.

The apostle took to the air with remarkable speed for something so massive. It's six wings all beating together with the force of a storm. It circled in the air, before coming down to the ground racking its claws over the surface, throwing up giant mounds of flesh as it created a scar across the bloody land in its wake, moving straight for Guts.

The Black Beast didn't falter or cower in front of the apex predator. Rather it charged, attempting to confront the massive claws in a head on charge. The four hundred pound black sword that was twice the size of the average man met the golden claw thats nail allow was as big as a war horse.

The momentum from the huge bird easily pushed back the human sized swordsman. Sparks flying as the iron met the otherworldly material of the claws. Then, against all reason, the thing that gave first was the claw.

One of the Hawk's toes was cut clean off, sent spinning through the air with a spray of blood as the iron slab cut through the diamond hard golden scales that lined the feet.

The Black Beast, freed from its clash bounced along the ground. But even before it finished rolling it was not about to let its prey escape. The false felt arm shot out a grappling hook, connected by a strong steel wire more than two inches thick.

It had been the first time Guts would use the function in battle. It was the latest modification that Rickert had added to the man's false arm when they had returned to the hill of swords after finally repairing Casca's mind.

Guts had believed that Casca wanted to return to the hill so that she could finally pay proper respects to the old Band of the Hawk. To morn those who Griffith had so thoughtlessly betrayed. The people who had been her family. He didn't realize that she had been returning there in order to see him again. To meet Griffith on that hill of swords. To take the same offer that Griffith had taken.

The steel claw was expertly sharpened with terrifying barbs and sank into the upper leg of the monstrous hawk. Guts body was jerked into motion by Griffith's speed. The force of it should have snapped his spin clean in half as well as ripping off his arm, but the Berserker Armor held him together, refusing to let him die. Not so long as his body still remained in one piece.

Clipping his Dragonslayer into its magnetic holster on his back Guts began to pull himself in on the rope with inhuman speed. Pulling himself towards the bird's body.

Griffith weeved and flipped, trying to shake off the armored man, to sever the bind that connected them, but Guts refused to let go and the clasp on the monster's leg only dug deeper. No matter how the apostle lashed about, Guts continued to get closer and closet.

Sharp metal claws sank into the white feathers and the berserker reached the main body of the monster. Waves of Ethereal energy radiated from the hawk, trying to push away the invading body, but the berserker only sank its helmet's razor like teeth in as it pulled up the free arm and started hacking away at everything square inch of flesh that was in reach.

The hawk shuddered and screamed as blood rained down from the wound on its leg. As its focus weakened, so did the force it exerted in an attempt to dislodge the monster that gripped it.

Guts continued to climb up the side of the giant bird, foot by foot, clawing and biting as he dragged his large sword up its side, slashing away every time his body shifted about. Through that pattern he reached the underside of the Hawk's wings, and with one savage strike, cut away the tendons.

The bird's right wings went dead, one after another. It fell from the sky, senselessly beating at the air with its remaining wings in a pointless attempt to remain a flout.

It hit the ground hard, continuing to roll, crushing hundreds of demons as slowly came to a stop. The Black Monster himself had been thrown off the top of the bird during its decent. The Berserker Armor held, slowly pushing Guts, getting him back up onto his feet even after the fall that no mortal man should have been able to survive.

Guts started to move towards the downed apostle, dragging his sword behind him as his bones splinted themselves back into place with a horrible cracking sound. By the time he had reached the head, he was already prepared to lift his sword.

The face on the monster's forehead looked at Guts. An expression still dull as ever. "Fitting I suppose. You always have been the only one that could stand up as my equal." The face said, not seeming to be in any pain, even as the rest of the hawk's body struggled to stand, with one side hacked into pieces. "But tell me, I may have traded away the lives of others to reach my goal. But can you honestly say you did any different? How many hundreds have you killed? Did you not sell your own soul along the way, just as I did mine?" Guts didn't respond, he just keep coming closer. "Well, you don't really need to answer. I already know the truth. Goodbye, my friend." The White Hawk said to the Black Dog as he closed his eyes.

"Get away from him!" Guts deflected a thrust aimed for his body as Casca made an attempt to attack him. He then grabbed the woman and throw her to the ground, through she recovered and moved between Guts and Griffith. "Don't you dare touch him. I won't let you ruin Griffith's dream. Not again." The apostle hissed, readying her rapier like arm.

Guts just kept moving closer. Casca screamed, jumping towards him, attempting to stab out with her rapier. Guts simply slapped the attack to the side before swinging a claw into her face. She screamed and backed away, falling backwards into the giant hawk's head.

Casca tried to wipe the blood from her face but found it impossible, and before she could do anything else, the massive slab of iron plunged into her body, nailing her to the hawk where it passed through the face that had been on its forehead.

Her bloodied hands came away from her face as she gasped, trying to take in her final breathes. Tears poured down her face as she reached out her hands. Her limp fingers reaching out to Guts... reaching out for his throat. Her life drained away as she tried in vain to squeeze at the armor that protected Guts' neck.

Guts staggered back away from the dead bodies. Tilting back his head he gave a inhuman cry. The nearby demons stepped back as they felt the bloodlust in the creature, seeing the amount of damage it had done. But at the same time, they didn't retreat. Each and every one of them could sense it, the sorrow, the pain. It was like sweet honey to them, though none dared move in to take a bite.

They should have ran.

The Black Monster would not allow them to simply watch him. Anything that moved must die. Guts continued on his rampage, rushing out to attack everything he could find.

He had lost it. He was drowning in a sea of sorrow. Unable to think as his body simply went along with its primal desire to kill everything. What was the point in stopping it? What was the point in living?

His soul was going dark. Falling it his inner demon. The thing that had been nested deep inside of him. The thing he had been fighting all along. He couldn't remember why he had fought it. Wasn't this what he had always wanted? To simply kill everything? What other purpose did he have?

The last remains of Guts was about to disappear, consumed by his sorrows. But just before the light went out, a vision came to him.

A small boy, only seven or eight years old, one who seemed to be made of flames. His black hair that reached down to his waist and dark eyes stared at Guts, stared straight through him, seeing everything that he was. The child just looked at him, but as he did, the darkness seemed to withdraw and he felt his mind clearing. Old thoughts returning to his head.

Then he could hear it. The rhythmic tapping of a staff and a mind reaching out to him.

'Guts... please... come back... We need you... there are too many of them...' He could see them in his minds eye. His companies. They were struggling against an onslaught of Demons. Schierke stood in the center of a circle of a magic barrier, trying to protect those around her, but the barrier wasn't strong enough to stop some of the larger, more powerful demons.

Isidro, Serpico, Rikert and Azan were trying to hold off the monsters as best they could to shield Schierke, Farnese, and Erica, but they were being pushed back. Isidro was bleeding from being thrown to the ground, Azan's twin sided mace staff was broken in half and one of his arms was held lamely at his side, and Rikert seemed to be running out of weaponry, his supply of arrows was almost spent and his bag of grenades was empty.

They were going to die.

"Like hell!" Guts growled. The berserker Armor itself seemed to be shocked as he stabbed his sword into the ground and reached up to start pulling back the armor's helmet. It resisted, struggled against his attempts to regain control.

'Why do you care!? Your life no longer has purpose! Your love betrayed you! Why do you continue to fight to exist! You were always going to give in eventually! From the very moment you first dawned the armor you fate was sealed!' The inner demon raged against him.

Guts ignored it. Even if he was betrayed. Even if every single memory he held dear was pissed on. Even if all hope was drained away from the world. He would never stop moving.

Your life doesn't have meaning until you find it. His life had been meaningless before the hawks, but it had gained meaning. And it hadn't been because of destiny or fate, it had been because Guts chose for it to happen.

He would not choose to give up. He would not choose to take it all lying down. He would keep fighting. No matter the consequence, he wouldn't just let things happen, he would cause things to happen. If the world was in his way, then he would move it.

Screw sorrow! Screw regret! Screw the consequences! And screw fate!

* * *

Isidro blocked and sidestepped an attack from a demon the size of a cow with six ape like arms, quickly countering by driving the edge of his fire dagger into its flesh. Flames quickly grew across the monster's skin, eating away at the creature as the salamander spirits ran wild.

But even as the demon died, three more took its place.

"Oh come on! There's no end to this." The red haired by whined as he lit his last grenade and tossed it to cover his retreat. "Rickert, I'm out of grenades! Got any more!"

"No! My arrows are spent too, and I'm running out of fairy steel knifes!" The blond young man shouted back as two massive armored demons came down on him, forcing him to retreat as well.

Serpico gathered a large gust of wind and pressed back against the armored demons buying the group a bit more room for when Azan rushed forward with one of the splintered halves of his staff. The attack wasn't enough and Azan was knocked backwards, cushioned by more wind so that he didn't smash his head into the ground.

"You still holding in there Sir Mustache?" Serpico said, checking on Azan.

"Boy, don't ask stupid questions." Azan growled as the old knight pushed himself up with his splintered staff as a crutch. "I refuse to die before you do. I swore I would out live you and I intend to!"

"Well, I'm sad to say that we might both be kicking the bucket soon." Serpico said looking towards the armored demons that continued to press forward.

"Serpico! Azan!" Farnese shouted, not knowing what to do. The blond haired knight turned witch had learned a little magic, but none of it was going to be of use against these monsters. She felt helpless. Unable to do anything but stand between the other girls and the monsters with the small silver dagger that would hardly be enough to give them a paper cut.

Rickert and Isidro were both knocked back as well. The sheer number of demons made it all seem hopeless. They were trapped in a world of demons. Even with Schierke's magic and barriers weakening the demons, how long would they be able to hold out before they finally fell.

"He's here." Schierke said, startling Farnese as she looked back to her tiny teacher. A small smile gracing the little witch's lips as she stood there with her eyes closed, continuing to tap out the hypnotic rhythm of her spells.

Screams of panic filled the air. The demons' screams.

The two armored demons turned around in time to have their top half split from their bottom halves. Blood flying as their torsos spun through the air.

Standing their where they had been was Guts, covered from head to toe in blood, his black cape in tatters, his breathing heavy, but with the fire of resistance burning strong in his eyes.

"Guts!" Isidro shouted, a grin spreading across his face. The Black Swordsman moved about them killing demon after demon.

"About time." Azan grumbled, pushing himself to stand with a bit more strength and move forward again.

With just his appearance, everyone felt lifted. They might have been tired. They might have been trapped in a world of demons. They might have been on their last leg. But Guts was there. Their living symbol of resistance against the darkness. Someone who they felt could hold off all of hell until the end of time. The fighters returned with renewed strength. The demons seemed to draw back, frightened of the warrior with his massive sword.

"Schierke, know any ways out of here?" Guts said, his tone of voice almost bored as he cleaved a giant spider demon in two.

"Not exactly. But if you can take some of the strain off, I can start working on it." The thirteen year old witch admitted as she drew some power away from her spell, willing to risk its strength with Guts close at hand. She needed to find a way to return them to the mortal realm, or at least to the astral plain. Anything would be better than this hellscape they found themselves in.

The demons were being pressed back as Schierke started to test the boundaries of the world they found themselves in. Her astral body seeking a hole, any weakness.

She was shocked when the Moonlight Boy appeared in front of her astral body. The child smiled at her, and started to draw her in, leading her. She felt the child's strange Od. But she could also feel something else.

Mana.

The free energy of a world. Mana that was clean and clear. "Everyone, stay close. Ivalera I need you to put out the symbols of the Twelve Pans. I've found a source." Schierke said, before beginning a new chant. Her body swayed and the tapping of her staff gave way to a rapid scratching motion. Ivalera, the elf who assisted Schierke quickly flew about, laying out the paper signs at the right spots. The fighters retreated into the circle of papers as light began to expand out from each of them. The demons tried to move forward, but the mana of a world that rejected them burned their bodies, driving them back.

With one final word, Schierke slammed her staff on the ground and the world exploded in light. Taking the party away from the World of the Eclipse.

Little did they now, they were not returning to Midland.

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 **A massive first chapter that only severs to basically say, Guts and party, minus Casca, go to another world.**

 **I'm going to have the Moonlight Boy hanging around as a physical being, always trying to follow Guts around and causing a few plot convent things to happen. More or less taking the vegetable Casca's usual job.**

 **In case you haven't already guessed, I'm not a huge Casca fan. Yeah she was made to be hot, but she was also kind of a bitch and never had a thought of her own, even before she was a mindless vegetable. Guts was simply so attached to his old memories (and maybe the fact that he gets off on people needing him) that he didn't drop the woman. Even the one time they had sex was angry sex. She always chose Griffith over him.**

 **I'd say he should leave her for** **Schierke. Thirteen is legal in their time period. Wouldn't even be considered strange, he's only twenty four or five.**

 **To my knowledge, Griffith's form as an apostle has never been revealed. The one I made up is simply one I made up.**


	2. Chapter 2

The first thing that Guts noticed as he woke up was the pain. There wasn't as much as there should have been. Sure it still hurt like all hell, but he was pretty sure he broke at least three ribs and shattered every bone in his legs. Not to mention what happened to his arms. He should have been in a lot more pain than this.

He also didn't feel the usual cold from blood lose. If anything he felt a little uncomfortably warm. The feeling was coming from a place on his left side where he could feel a bit of pressure.

His single eye opened and he twisted his head down to look at what was causing it.

The Moonlight Boy was kneeling next to him. The small child was dressed in his usual white silk sleeping gown that mostly hid his sex from the world. His hands were pressed against Guts' side warm pouring out of them and into Guts. It was some kind of healing magic.

When the boy noticed Guts staring at him he smiled and made a sound of excitement, or perhaps closer to a baby's laugh. This in turn gathered more attention.

"You're awake." Farnese said from a position nearby. She was holding up Azan's arm while Erica tended the old man's wounds.

Erica was the youngest member of their little group, being only somewhere around ten or eleven, Guts wasn't quite sure which. Her face had much of that soft quality of small children and with her wavy blond hair pulled back in a bun she did look like an extremely young little maid. However she was pretty tall for her age, standing half a head over both Schierke and Isidro who were both at least two years older than her, and her arms were strong from her years of helping in her adopted father Godo's forge.

Guts quickly looked over the girl from head to toe in order to make sure that she didn't have a single bruise. Godo would have never forgiven him if something had happened to that girl, and the last thing he needed was the old blacksmith's ghost haunting him too. Though if he was about to try to haunt Guts he would probably have to take a number. There was a bit of blood on her sleeves from tending to the old fart of a knight, but other than that she was fine, if a little shell shocked. Even if she had seen demons before, the World of the Eclipse was something else.

Azan was a little worse for wares though. Though he was lucky to be alive. His close quarters bludgeoning weapon was not exactly the most effective thing in the world when facing demons. His left shoulder was covered in blood but it looked as though Puck and Ivalera as well as Schierke had done there magic yet again, since the man hadn't bleed to death.

"Alright, Guts is up!" Isidro shouted in excitement before wincing and bringing his unbandaged arm up to his head. The large cut on his head had already healed but it was still there to show where the demon had managed to get a grazing blow on him.

"Guts!" Puck shouted along with the boy flying straight over to huge the side of Guts' head. "You're alive!"

"Get off." Guts grumbled, reaching up and pulling the elf off the side of his head.

He hated it when Puck got all touchy. Worse than with other people. At least other people didn't grab onto him with their whole bodies while being completely naked. Even if his sexual characteristics were absent, that didn't mean Guts didn't still imagine them there. The tiny being was only just a bit smaller than Guts' palm but it couldn't have been that hard to find some clothes.

"You really did a number on yourself, again." Schierke said, leaning up against a brick wall nearby. It was the first thing that queued Guts into the fact that they were now in a city. She looked tired. Her staff was held loosely in her hands and she was a little pale. She must have used a lot of magic.

"You alright?" Guts asked the small witch.

"You are the last person I want to hear that question from." Schierke scoffed but then took a deep breath and sighed. "I'll be fine. Just tired. An hour or so to meditate and I will be back to normal." Guts could only nod, trusting that she would know best. She was young, only around thirteen years old, but she always tried to have a realistic view of her abilities as a witch. She was humble and usually fairly mature. It was often funny to see her fall to piece whenever people tried to praise or tease her.

"Guts..." Farnese said hesitantly. "Are you... I mean... did she..." The former knight looked unsure of how to ask her question so she just stated a fact. "We saw the brand."

"Yeah, she did." Guts said, closing his eye and trying not to let his emotions runaway from him. The little area went uncomfortably quiet. Even Serpico, who didn't even like Guts had opened his eyes to show a pitying look.

"Guts?" Puck said, feeling the sorrow rolling off of the Black Swordsman in waves.

"That... bitch..." Isidro half growled, closing his own eyes. "After everything Guts did for her she sold him out to that monster!"

"That's Casca for you. She'd do anything Griffith asked." Rickert mumbled, shaking his head. His own hands were trembling with rage. He was the only other person other than Guts who had none Casca before the first Eclipse. "Though, I never thought that even she would do something like this."

Rickert had been only thirteen when he joined the first Band of the Hawks, and year before Guts himself joined in. He had grown into a fine young man, though maybe the word grown wasn't the right one. The blond young man had never passed the five and a half foot mark, being ever shorter than his peers. Even with his hair pulled back in a ponytail, he still looked just as childish as he had been then.

"Guts, I'm so sorry." Farnese said looking down at her hands.

"Don't be. No point in being sorry about anything. Especially crap that isn't even your fault." Guts said as he started to push himself up into a sitting position. The Moonlight Boy grabbed onto Guts' arm as he sat up, staring at him with wide sorrowful brown eyes.

"How is he here?" Guts asked, changing the subject. It was something that had been bugging him ever since he was awake. The child had always only come in physical form during the night when there was a large amount of moonlight. Something about the midnight hour and the Astral Plan being closer at those times. But here he was in broad daylight.

"It seems that this world we are now in has seen a powerful converging force. The Astral Plan and the Physical World are very close here." Schierke said, trying to keep herself sounding calm, though she still squirmed a little.

The party looked at the small witch. "Sorry, what was that about 'this world we are now in'?" Serpico asked with a small chuckle. "You make it sound like we are in a different world than we were in before the Eclipse."

Schierke looked at Serpico and nodded. "We are in a mortal world, but not the mortal world that we came from. When we were escaping the World of the Eclipse, I grabbed onto the first world I could find. Actually, he was the one that showed me to this world. Most likely he wanted us to be in a world were he could manifest at all times rather than just with strong moonlight." Schierke explained glancing towards the Moonlight Boy who was trying to climb up onto Guts' back. "If you don't believe me, just look over there." Schierke said, pointing towards a spot just a little ways off where a woman with cat ears growing out of her head was putting out the laundry to dry.

"Guts, have I ever told you how weird life has become since I met you?" Serpico said, his shoulders dropping with a sigh. Guts only gave a grunt, acknowledging that he had heard the complaint, but didn't give a shit.

"Teacher, you do know a way for us to get back, don't you? After all, you managed to get us into this world, you must know how to get us back." Farnese asked Schierke.

"No." Schierke answered simply, shaking her head.

"What!? Why not!?" Isidro shouted, glaring at the little witch.

"Because we are mortal!" Schierke snapped at Isidro who backed off. "Our bodies naturally exist in the Physical Plane, so that is where they wish to stay. Moving them from an Astral Plane into a Physical one is easy once you find a route, but moving back takes far too much energy. It is like rain on the side of a mountain. No effort is required to get it to the bottom once a route is cleared, but it takes a lot of energy and time to get all that water back to the top of the mountain. It takes a ritual on the level of the eclipse to move humans into the astral plane."

"But Teacher, haven't we been to the Astral Plane several times before? With the trolls and your teacher's tree?" Farnese pointed out.

Schierke shook her head. "No, those may have been points were the Physical and Astral Planes became close, but they were still both in the Physical Plane."

"So we can't go back." Erica said gloomily.

"What are we going to do then?" Rickert asked.

"Same thing we always do. Same thing everyone does." Guts grunted as he pushed himself up to his feet, the Moonlight Boy still holding tight to his back. "We survive."

Everyone in the group's heads nodded. Even if they couldn't get back home, they needed to keep moving. Guts stook a few sets but staggered.

"Guts, you need to let yourself finish healing first. You lost a lot of blood." Schierke quickly said as she directed Rickert and Serpico to help the massive man back down.

"Don't worry. I'll take Erica and scout out the city, see what's going on. Maybe there is a local army that needs recruits or something." Rickert said to Guts.

"Serpico and I will go too. I'll be able to contact you all telepathically if needed, so Teacher doesn't need to expend any more energy." Farnese offered.

"We will?" Serpico said surprised, before quieting down at one of Farnese's glares.

Guts continued to grumble, not liking having to stay still, but he did as he was told. "Rickert." He called out before tossing a bag to the younger ex-mercenary.

Rickert caught it with ease and didn't seem at all surprised when he heard a metalic clanking. Opening the bag with one hand, he glanced inside to see a small fortune in Midland gold coins. More than enough to buy an entire house. "Left overs from your glory days?" Rickert asked. Guts only shrugged.

Say what you want about the idiot nobles and their hundred year war, they at least paid mercenaries what they promised. One gold coin for every three heads, ten for the head of a captain, thirty for a general's head. By the time Guts had left the Hawks he had killed over seven hundred people in the name of the war effort, including over two dozen captains and three generals and four 'special interest targets'. There was a reason why the Hawks raiders were feared. Often Guts would take to the field by himself just to minimize causality... on his side at least. Killing was business and business had been a booming.

He had been sitting on a fortune big enough to buy his own castle when he retired to Godo's old smithy. That sack Rickert was now holding was only a small piece of Guts' stash. Though since his stash was now located in an entirely different world, it didn't do him much good.

"Might not be the local currency, but gold is still gold." Guts said simply.

"Before you go, I'll need to teach Farnese a new spell." Schierke said with a sigh. "I would cast it myself, but I am just feeling too weak at the moment."

"Are you sure teacher?" Farnese asked her. It was not often that Schierke would make her cast a spell in her stead.

"It isn't a complicated spell, but it is necessary. The language here is different from our world, so you will need to cast a spell to correct that problem." Schierke said. "Everyone sit down. It will take me a few minutes to explain how it works to Farnese. If she can understand the spell, she won't be able to cast it."

They want into another one of there teacher student moments. Talking about things that went completely over the rest of the parties head. Something about the connection between intent and meaning and how words were an form of energy that was projected by the spirit as well as the body. By the time it was done all but Schierke and Farnese felt like they had just fried a few brain cells trying to understand what she was talking about.

"I wish you could cast that translation spell to turn all that gibberish you just spouted into normal human language." Isidro said, smoke seemed to be coming out of his ears and Puck eyes had fallen out of the air with the struggle of thinking.

Schierke glared at the boy. "I can't make you understand things that are beyond your scope of knowledge. Though people who know nothing can understand nothing. A monkey like you couldn't possibly understand that."

Farnese was mumbling over the things she was told, reciting the list of arcane spirits that manifested the idea of meaning and converse. Her hands moving over the needed talismans. "I think I'm ready." Farnese said, looking up to her teacher for approval.

"Don't worry so much. You can do this. A large part of magic is the belief that humanity and the spirits can make it happen." Schierke said, trying to give her student courage. Something that was still an odd sight, given that the student was probably twice her was not a flashy spell, but each of the surrounding men and girls felt it washing over them, adding new words in connection to old ones.

"Teacher that was... oddly easy." Farnese mumbled as she finished the spell. "I felt a little draining, but not as much as it should have been."

"That's because the astral spirits are so much easier to reach here. It does not take much to call on them and there is enough mana in the air to let us regenerate our strength more quickly." Schierke explained. "My Lady told me about things like this once, though she never said how she knew about other worlds existing." The little witch and a sad expression on her face. "There was so much she still had left to tell me."

"She probably didn't want you to know." Guts said calmly, seeing that no one else was going to say anything to comfort her. "The old woman had lived a long time. Probably did a who lot of things that she wasn't proud of. But I think she died happy."

Schierke tilted her witches hat down to hid her moist eyes.

* * *

The scouting party left as the elves and Moonlight Boy stayed behind to tend to the rest of the party's injuries. Schierke sat cross legged with her staff across her legs, rocking a bit as she mumbled a chant meant to draw the magic of the earth to her in order to revitalize her.

Guts lay against the wall, the Moonlight Boy sitting in his lap, pressed up against his chest plate and seeming in no hurry to move as he lay there napping. Guts' left eye shifted over towards Schierke, studying the witch girl. "You're tense." Guts pointed out to her.

Schierke's shoulders sank. "I was hoping you wouldn't notice." She mumbled. Guts always noticed when she was upset, no matter how strong a front she put on. "I messed up. I panicked and got us all trapped in another strange world. If I had just taken a few more moments to retra..."

"Doesn't matter." Guts said, cutting off her line of thought. "Regretting it won't change what happened. We were in a tight spot and you did what you had to do. If you had taken your time someone might have dead. You were in a hard position and made the best choice you could." Guts reached out and patted her witch's hat. "You did good kid."

"T...thank you." Schierki mumbled, pulling down on her hat a little to hide her light blush. It took her a few moments to get a hold of herself, but once she did she returned the question. "How about you? Are you... you now... stable?"

Guts closed his eye. Thinking about how to put it in words. He could feel it, the Berserker Armor trying to take advantage of him, trying to force him to lose control. "I'm angry... with myself." Guts finally said. He might as well be honest with Schierke. She was one of the few people who could pull him back if he had an episode and lost control to the armor. She needed to know what his mental state was like. He had gotten used to having to tell her things.

"You couldn't have stopped her, you know that right? It was her choice. You never did anything wrong." Schierke said.

Guts just shook his head. "I'm not regretting anything. I did what I did. The thing that is eating at me is... even after everything Casca did... after everything both of them did... I still hold my memories of them dear. They helped give my life meaning." Guts started to laugh horribly to himself. "Why is it that the people I love most betray me, and I can't even blame them for doing it."

"Oh Guts." Schierke said as the man closed his one eye. She couldn't even image it. It never struck her just how much he must have trusted Griffith before the Eclipse, just how much he had wanted to believe in Casca. All the good memories that they had shared together.

It would have been like if Schierke's own teacher had betrayed her. It just... unthinkable for the young witch. She really didn't know what to do for the man.

Guts' eye shot open and a hand went to his sword as he looked to the entrance of their little alley way. "Easy there Guts, its just us." Serpico said as the scouting party came back with heavy shoulders.

"How'd it go?" Isidro asked, seeming unable to read their faces.

"I can't believe it. We somehow managed to end up in a world where GOLD isn't considered to be worth as much as a meal." Serpico said with a sigh. That was a surprise.

"It would seem Teacher was right about magical things being more common in this world. With so many magical resource in existence, mundane resources like gold aren't worth very much." Farnese said looking to the small witch with apologetic eyes. "We talked to six different gnome peddles and they all said pretty much the same thing. Minted gold isn't pure enough to work with without removing the imperfections, and that would decrease the value to the point where it is hardly worth a thing. All the local money we could get for Guts' gold would hardly buy all of use a good meal for tonight."

"I have to admit, this is a disappointing turn of events." Azan said dipping his balding head and running his fingers through his handlebar mustache.

"You've got to be kidding me! What is wrong with these people! It's gold for crying out loud!" Isidro shouted angrily, kicking at the ground in frustration.

"Calm down. It can't be helped." Guts mumbled in that way of his, seeming hardly interested in the bad luck. "What else did you find out?" He asked, looking to Rickert who didn't seem that unhappy. They had both been mercenaries. So they knew that you couldn't always count on anything. The people providing your paycheck could easily decide it was cheaper to kill you. A thief could steal all your money without any of the damn noblemen caring. You could be on the losing side in a fight and end up sent running without a single thing to your name.

When a mercenary had nothing, the first thing they did was look for work.

"A good deal, though we don't have all the details." Rickert said pointing up behind them. "See that huge white tower."

"Yeah, its kind of hard to miss." Isidro said looking over at the massive white tower that put every other building he had ever seen to shame.

"Well apparently it was build on top of some kind of underground cavern that the locals refer to as a 'dungeon'. Monsters come out of the wood work in it and they heir mercenaries they call 'adventurers' to go down into the tunnels and kill the monsters to bring back the resources that they leave behind. Something called a magic stone that seeming to be in the monster's bodies." Rickert reported. "The economy of this entire city seems to run on it. So the job's got to pay well."

"They pay people to kill monsters? Looks like we found Guts' dream job!" Puck laughed as he spun through the air.

"It makes sense." Schierke said, tapping her staff rhythmically on the ground as she looked up in through. "Since this world is so deeply connected to the astral one, monsters are bound to show up. I'd guess that tower is some kind of ritual structure to make sure that all the monsters appear in the same place so that the rest of the area can be safe for the simple folk. They must need people to kill the monsters to act as a sort of population control just as much as it is to gather resources. Though it is hard to imagine they could get enough people to actual fight."

"Doesn't matter." Guts said, getting all the way to his feet, fingering at his sword hilt. "Those who don't work don't eat. Now we got a plan, lets just do it."

"Guts are you sure you are ready to... forget it." Schierke said with a sigh as she pushed herself up with her staff. "I'm coming too. I've recovered a good deal of my energy and I would like to get a feel for this 'dungeon' and the sort of magic it holds. It might teach me something important the functioning of this world."

Seeing that Guts and Schierke were planning on going, Isidro quickly volunteered. Azan started to stand up, but Guts stopped him. "You, Rickert stay with the kids." He grumbled as he pulled the Moonlight Boy off of him and pushed him into Rickert's hands. "Look after Judeau."

"Judeau?" Rickert said in surprise.

"Can't just keep calling him that boy." Guts shrugged, looking down at the child who was staring up at him with huge dark eyes. "I... told myself that if Casca and I ever had a son, we would name it after Judeau. Can't now so..." Guts shook his head and turned around, starting to walk towards the tower without another word.

"Well good luck you guys." Serpico said with his usual closed eyes smile as they passed him by.

Guts grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and started to drag him along behind him. "You're coming too." The newly dubbed Judeau stared after them as they went towards the tower to earn their living.


	3. Chapter 3

"Ugh! This smell so bad!" Issei complained as the young adventure pushed himself up from cutting into one of the dead goblins with his adventure's knife. It had to be the worst part about being an adventurer, actually retrieving the magic stones from inside monsters they killed.

How come no one ever mentioned that to him whenever he was thinking about becoming an adventure for the Gremory Familia? They only told him about the money, strength, glory and boobs. So far, he hadn't gotten a single one of those things!

He had been adventuring alone for the last three months and was still being told by the men and women at the Guild that he was a weakling and should stay on the second floor, though he had found the stairs to go deeper days ago.

"Forget it! I'm going to the third floor today!" The young man shouted, walking down the staircase.

No sooner had he reached the bottom stair than the wall all around him started to change, nearly a hundred cracks opening and a dungeon lizard or goblin falling from each one.

"What the hell!" Issei shouted in panic. He had never had to deal with more than two at a time on the second floor what was with the massive difficulty spike! The monsters screamed and started to charge straight for the fear struck adventurer. Issei was too filled with panic to even run for his life.

"Move it." A hallow voice behind him half growled as a heavy hand clapped his shoulder, throwing him to the side. Issei fell to the ground before looking up at the person who shoved him.

His blood went cold at the sight of the man. If it even was a man and not another monster.

He was over six and a half feet tall, with jet back hair with a large patch of white in the front. His right eye seemed to have been torn out of his head and his face was covered in scars. His black armor was completely covered in blood, some of it dry but much of it still fresh, with a black cape that was even more blood stained. And then there was the most terrifying part of him, his sword.

Could that thing even be called a sword? It was not just massive, massive wasn't a big enough word. It was larger than even the man himself. It must have weighed more than a war house. Surely no one could possibly wield that thing.

The monsters ran straight at this dark figure preparing to overwhelm him, his right hand moving slowly to the hilt of his sword. With only one hand and with a single stroke of his sword, he killed a wave of over ten goblins. No, kill didn't do it justice. His sword ripped them to pieces, arms and legs flying in all directions, blood flying through the air. His movements were fast, moving through the small army of enemies like a wave of pure death. Within just seconds the hallway was clear again and the walls and floors were covered in blood.

The monster of a man didn't even look back at Issei, he just returned his sword to his back and kept walking, as if nothing had happened.

"Oy! Guts!" Issei nearly jumped as he turned his head to see three more individuals standing next to him. One was blond wearing a green cape that seemed to dance in a light breeze that Issei hadn't noticed before. His eyes were closed and a smirk was on his face. "Aren't we supposed to be collecting magic stones from these things?"

"The big stuff is deeper in." The dark man, Guts replied in a bored voice.

"True. I can sense denser clusters of Od below." A girl with green hair dressed in a witch's outfit said, scratching her chin. She looked like she was only twelve or thirteen. "Killing a hand full of larger monsters would probably be more efficient than harvesting from these smaller creatures. I agree with Guts, we should go deeper before we start working for real."

"You say that, but you know Guts is just looking for something bigger to kill." The blond man said, shaking his head. "He's on edge. He wants to find something he can take it out on. Something that can take his beating for more than a second."

"Can you blame him?" A red haired boy grunted. He was mostly normally dressed with a few scraps of his own and two one hand swords attached to his side. "Come on, unless you want Guts to kill everything in the whole place without us."

"Fine by me, let him vent all he wants. If he loses it, I'd rather not be nearby." The blond said with a shrug.

"He won't lose control. Not over these weaklings." The green haired girl said, continuing to walk forward. "I almost wish he would. It might help his heart heal if he lets it all out."

Issei watched as they all left, walking through the valley of blood without a care. "...I'm going back to the second floor."

* * *

"I'm looking for work." Rickert said as he stood in front of a smithery. Just like the seven before it, they slammed the door in his face. He could only sigh. "Why is it that everyone thinks I just a kid. I'm nineteen."

"Don't take it personally." Farnese said, patting the young man on the back.

"They don't take Erica seriously either." Erica said, pouting as she traced weapons in the dirt with a stick.

"I wish I could join you in looking for work, sadly there is little beyond knight work that this old soldier can do." Azan said, shaking his head. "Perhaps I should have learned a craft on the side. Ugh..." The old man gripped at his injured left arm.

"Maybe we should just go and sit down somewhere. I'm sure that Guts and the others will do fine and we won't have to worry about anything." Farnese said gently to the older man, offering to help him and guide him to a bench to sit down.

"Still, I need to find a smithy somehow." Rickert said, sitting down next to them and putting his head in his hands. "I'm responsible for looking after Guts' equipment. It isn't like he can take that arm of his to just anybody. Every single piece was designed by me and Godo. We're the only ones who can patch it up. And the idea of letting someone else touch Dragonslayer... It was Godo's sword. The one he sacrificed everything over. He dead repairing that sword so that Guts could continue the fight. I can't let anyone else work on it." Rickert said, clenching his hair in his fists tight until his knuckles went white. Erica nodded in agreement. Godo had put everything he had into that giant slab of metal. His vary life and soul.

Farnese looked at the two foster siblings then sighed. "Maybe we should just go back and wait for Guts' group." She said before looking around. It took her a few moments to realize something was missing. "Erica, where's the boy?" She asked, looking frantically around for Judeau.

The group looked for him, unable to find even a trace of the Moonlight Boy. "You don't think that he..." Erica said looking up at the massive white tower which sat upon the dungeon.

Farnese covered her mouth and closed her eyes, trying to get control of her breath. "I...I'll contact Teacher."

* * *

"You know, this is just getting embarrassing." Isidro mumbled as he casually stabbed a wolf like monster through the head as it charged right at him before letting fall to the side. "I never though that killing monsters could be boring, but after all the stuff we've seen these things feel rather... underwhelming. Even random street thugs usually put up more of a fight than this things."

"It shouldn't be too surprising." Schierke said, releasing a blade of wind with a small word and simple gesture of her staff, beheading three more goblins. "We are close to the main sealing mechanism inside of the tower. The barrier is still pretty strong here, only smaller monster are able to slip through. I doubt we will get to see anything more until we get to a deeper level."

"We better get there soon." Guts grumbled. There was only so much canon fodder he could stand. He side stepped a horned rabbit that was trying to headbutt him, grabbing its head in his right hand before crushing its skull like a grape. This WAS embarrassing. The small fry wasn't even worth Dragonslayer.

"You say that, but I'm pretty sure it is taking so long because you attract these things like a magnet." Serpico said, looking back over his shoulder at the trail of death that lay behind them. "What a mess. We are going to dirty our shoes something dreadful on our way back. Oh well, at least we won't be getting lost. Just follow the entrails."

"That is disgusting." Schierke said while Isidro chuckled at the joke. She shook her head, trying to push on past them, but then she stopped in her step.

Noticing how the little witch went ridged, Guts stopped, turning to look at her. "What is it?"

"It's Judeau. He's gone missing. Farnese thinks that he followed us into the caves." Schierke reported. Guts' eyebrows creased slightly as Schierke closed her eyes, sensing the tunnels. "He is here, on the same level as us too." She held out her staff as she slowly turned herself around, testing for the odd boy's Od. "About a mile that way."

No sooner had she finished speaking did Guts break out in a run.

* * *

Judeau was walking along in the tunnels, following the feel of Guts' soul. The small child like Ethereal beings was practically skipping along without a care in the world, stopping now that then to look at something that caught his interest. Places where he could feel Guts. Where he could feel that thing that drew all spirits, good and bad, to the Black Swordsman.

Not the brand. There had been something about Guts that drew in spirits long before the first Eclipse. It was the feel of his soul, a depth of it that drew the eye of all mystical creatures ranging from simple flower spirit and elves all the way to the horrifying monsters like Zodd. Though for the Moonlight Boy, it was more than a simply passing fancy, or vague interest. He could feel the need to be with the Berserker.

Judeau had followed the group all the way down to the fourth floor. The first four floors were a lot a like, the only difference being the number of weak monsters that the dungeon decided to throw at the adventures. Not that any of that had dissuaded Judeau.

While he was staring at a dead dog that had been nearly broken in half by Guts' metal fist, the walls of the dungeon started to open, dozens of monsters plopping out of the holes.

The creatures started to walk towards the child like boy, preparing to jump him. But right before they did, the child turned its head towards them. The monsters froze and an overwhelming presence washed over them. There limbs began to tremble as they looked into the little boy's black eyes.

Judeau narrowed his eyes and a wave of Od pulsed out of him. The monsters screamed as the boy's magical energy hit them, burning their skin and causing some to burst into flame. The monsters scattered, unwilling to confront this being that had dropped down into their presence.

The boy pushed himself up, dusting off his white clothes before turning to continue down his chosen path. But before he could, he heard a loud mooing sound coming from down one of the side tunnels. He stopped to stare curiously down the pathway, wondering what had made that sound.

Out of the tunnel jumped a boy, no more than fifteen years old, with hair so white that it seemed to glow in the darkness of the cave. The boy stumbled and landed right in front of Judeau, pushing himself off of the ground and not even getting up full way before he was trying to scrabble to move away from where he was coming from.

He only seemed to hesitate for a moment when he saw Judeau. "W...What's a kid doing down here!" He shouted in panic, seeing what looked like a seven year old boy tilting his head and staring at him.

The mooing sound was heard again behind him and the boy jumped in a manner that reminded Judeau of a rabbit. He grabbed the Moonlight Boy and throw him over his shoulder before breaking out in a run as a Minotaur rounded the corner he had just came from, giving a horrible cry before charging the two children.

The monster was... bigger, standing at around seven feet tall, with bulls horns stilling out of each side of its bull like head that sat on a body that resembled a man's.

* * *

Bell ran as fast as he could while carrying the child, turning corners in an attempt to break line of sight, like they had been told to do by the Guild if they ever found themselves being chased by something that was out of their league.

Sadly, he picked the wrong corner and ended smacking into a dead end. Bell staggered, turning in order to shield the child from hitting the wall with his own body, leaving them both on the floor as the Minotaur towered over them.

Bell looked up at the monster, unable to pull his eyes away from terror. He was sure he was going to dead.

...Then he saw a black blur and the Minotaur's top half went spinning through the air, blood showering all over the white haired boy as he stared in shock. The legs of the monster went stiff before slowly collapsing onto the ground to reveal the man standing behind it.

It was a tall man holding an unbelievably large sword. Just looking at the massive slab of iron made Bell feel somewhat inadequate, wanting to push his dagger behind himself to hide his shame. The man glared down at him with a heavily scarred face and a single eye, and when he talked it was a sound like gravel under wagon wheels. "You were supposed to wait outside." He said. His voice wasn't angry, more like disinterested.

Bell couldn't understand what he meant, not until the child started to make happy noises, jumping out of Bell's grip and running across the monster's corpse to jump onto the black armored man's legs, looking up at him with a wide smile.

The man sighed. "Guess it can't be helped." He said, reaching down with one hand that seemed to be made out of steel to pluck up the small boy by his collar, pulling him off of the ground before depositing him on his shoulder, letting the boy huge his head for support.

As he turned around to leave, a beautiful blond woman ran around the corner, a sword in her hand. She looked over the scene with expressionless eyes, seeing the dead Minotaur before looking up at Guts. Then the blond's green eyes seemed to widened. She stood still, staring at him for a solid five seconds as he stared back.

"Going stop pointing that at me, or are we going to have a problem?" The man said. The girl followed his gaze to her sword before quickly pointing it in another direction. The man then nodded and started to walk past her.

She turned around, looking after him, holding out a hand as if to stop him, but hesitated. Bell and the blond woman watched as the man walked away, the child still clinging to his head.

* * *

 **I cut off here before adding in when Guts and party kills bigger game, which will start next chapter, since that should be coupled with the Guild's reactions about the group returning with their haul.**

 **Ais is a sort of human-spirit hybrid, so she reacts in an interesting manner to someone of Guts' nature (being born from a corpse). Spirits taking interest in Guts before the Eclipse ever happened is canon.**


	4. Chapter 4

"Keep moving!" Kashima Ouka, the Captain of Takemikazuchi Familia shouted at the rest of his team. They were each running as fast as they could from the army that was at their heels.

He didn't understand it. They were all high level ones or level twos. The eleventh floor should have been a cake walk for them. They had done it several times in the past, though they had yet to move on to the twelfth. But on this day, rather than being confronted with ten or twenty monsters over the course of an entire day, they were swarmed by hundreds at once.

Imps, Orcs, Hard Armors, Silverbacks, an Infant dragon... A FUCKING INFANT DRAGON! In his months on the eleventh floor, he had never even seen one before, yet here it was, along side all the others in a mad charge, chasing after the unfortunate Familia as they ran towards the exit to the level above. They knew that leaving in such a manner would lead the monsters to the floor above. That some weaker adventures might be killed, but there was nothing they could do. They didn't want to die and fighting was impossible.

As they came closer to the floor's entrance they saw another small group walking towards them through the mist. "Run! Run away!" Yamato Mikoto shrieked at the party. But they didn't seem to have heard her.

Up on the rock faces above them, a group of six Silverbacks prepared to jump on top of the newcomers. The savage apes, each one over twenty feet tall with massive shoulders and silver fur, screamed in furry at they ambushed the small party.

A small girl wearing a witches hat stood in front of the others chanting something as she tapped her staff on the sandy ground. "...For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory, for ever and ever." Finishing her incantation, she raised her staff above her head, and then all of the Takemikazuchi Familia nearly stumbled at the sight of the child's magic.

A light like nothing they had ever seen before spread around the group, a rainbow of colors that swirled together and seemed to hold a palpable presence in the air around them. As the apes came into the light, they screamed in pain their silver fur seeming to shrivel away and their bodies dissolved into flakes of light, leaving only the fist sized magic stones behind.

The Takemikazuchi Familia stared at the child as she stood there, her eyes closed with an almost peaceful expression. All around her, the light separated into four main colors; red, blue, green and yellow, each one taking on an almost human form. The power of them was almost breath taking, boarding on divine.

The monsters that charged into the light quickly suffered the same fate as the apes from before and it wasn't long before the remaining creatures wised up and stopped at the edge of the circle of light, surrounding it, waiting for the mage casting the spell to falter.

All except for the Infant Dragon. The massive lizard like creature might not have been as large as its full grown brethren, nor did it have their wings, but it was still the largest thing that could be found on the upper floors. The only thing that could even compete with it was the Monster Rex on the seventh floor, the Goliath. It head was over sixteen feet of the ground and from the tip of its nose to its tail must have been at least sixty feet. Its dark brown scales were tough as nails, far too strong for the weapons of your average lower class adventurers, and most importantly... its breath.

Red flames came spewing out of the dragon's mouth, passing through the barrier as it came for the little witch, trying to take her out. But before anyone else could even react, a massive man dressed from head to toe in black armor moved into the way with a huge slab of iron in his hand, positioning it between witch and the flames, guarding the child until the fire died down. What ever the barrier was, it only protect them from physical attacks from the monsters, and not the monsters fire.

"Guts, take care of the dragon." The girl said, her voice calm as still water as she continued to maintain her spell, never once opening her eyes.

The massive man gave a grunt, lifting up a hand made of metal to pluck the small boy who was sitting on his shoulder up into the air before dropping him down onto his feet. "Stay still this time." The man said before running out of the circle of light, straight for the dragon.

Three Hard Armors moved in to attack him. The armadillo like monsters were some of the defensively strongest creatures on the upper floor. While not too difficult to deal with due to their low speeds and obvious weak point in their unarmored belly, their armored skin was hard enough to block the attacks from even a level three adventurer without suffering even a scratch.

It seemed no one had ever told the Black Swordsman that. He simply drew back his massive black sword and swung it straight for the monsters, not only scratching their thick hides, but bisecting all three of them in a single swing.

The Takemikazuchi Familia watched as the man swung his sword again and again. Anywhere from one to five monsters dropping dead with each swing, depending more on how many were in reach, rather than any other factor.

All around the party, the monster apes started to pick up thing to throw at them. Stones came raining down towards the party, only to be deflected by a sudden gust of unbelievably strong winds. The Familia looked to a blond man who stood in front of them holding a sword that appeared to be made out of hawk feathers, the unusual wind wrapping around the man as he swung it again and again, not only deflecting the rocks, but cutting into the monsters at range with the sharp wind.

"Our little witch can keep that barrier up all day, but she can't move from the center of the circle. Defend her, if you want to live through this." The blond said without even looking at the party. A red haired boy stood on the opposite side of the circle, sending up waves of fire with each sweep of his short orange sword. The Takemikazuchi Familia had no other option than to obey, each one standing around the little girl, deflecting any rock that got through with their weapons or even their bodies if necessary.

As the Black Swordsman approached the dragon, its attention shifted to him and him alone. It bared its teeth at him, a bright orange glow shining through between the fangs. Guts cut off his attack against a Silverback to strafe to the side, avoiding the stream of fire that battered the monsters had been trying to surround him. He swept his cape about, fanning away the flames as he continued to avoid them to the best of his abilities while closing the distance between them.

Reaching back behind him, he clipped his sword back into place before attaching the automatic-crossbow to his metal arm. Even if he couldn't see through the flames, he still knew where the head was, just like he knew that the fire wasn't hot enough to melt steel. He began to crank the handle firing arrow after arrow, and was rewarded with a cry of pain. The stream of fire swerved to the side, burning to death another group of monsters that were simply too close by, as the dragon shook its head in pain from the damage to its right eye.

Guts removed the crossbow attachment and rushed forward, quickly closing the distance between them before the dragon to right is flames again. As the dragon looked at him with its left eye he light a grenade. "One... two... three..." He mumbled under his breath, hoping to get the thing off before the breath of fire returned and blew it up in his hand. He tossed the small ball right next to the creatures left eye and was rewarded when the thing exploded, sending flames and bits of metal into the creature's remaining eye, blinding it completely.

The dragon didn't give up, struggling blindly. It sniffed at the air and swung a claw towards Guts. The Black Swordsman parried the claw, sliding the blade up the monster's leg in order to slash at its armpit. The creature screamed in pain, falling onto its side, putting its neck in convent range for Guts' sword. With one powerful swing, he severed the small dragon's head, ending its life. Blood poured out of the stump, falling to the ground before releasing steam into the air.

"Looks like we are making some headway." Isidro said, trusting his fire sword in order to shoot balls of flames out of it at two nearby Orcs.

No sooner had Isidro said this than the ground shook and large cracks opened up in the floor. The Takemikazuchi Familia could only watch in slack jawed horror as three more infant dragons pulled themselves up out of the ground to take the place of the first.

"Alright, new rule, Guts isn't allowed in the dungeon anymore without sealing those brands first." Serpico said with a sigh of resignation. "So much extra effort."

Guts just spat onto the ground and lifted up his sword again, returning to doing what he did best.

* * *

"We're alive!" Maratsu shouted, as the Takemikazuchi Familia stumbled out of the dungeon alongside Guts' party. The poor souls fell down on hands and knees and started to kiss the brick work. While Guts' party was more concerned about what to do next.

They had three large backpacks that they had got from the Takemikazuchi Familia's support and had filled them with Magic Stones and various other things, but didn't have a clue how to exchange it all.

"Where have you all been!?" The Familia looked up to see their god running towards them, looking flustered, his eyes swelling with tears. Takemikazuchi was dressed in old Japanese clothes with a hairstyle of the same time period. He wasn't extremely tall, but for a man of Japan he would be above average. "You didn't come home and I got worried. The Guild has been saying that the dungeon was acting unusually today. I was afraid I lost you all."

"Milord, don't..." Asuka said, as the entire group went to try to comfort their patron deity. "We are sorry for worrying you, but we're fine now. Please, don't cry, it is unbecoming of a noble god such as yourself."

"Are you all really alright? Truly? Let me get a good look at you." Takemikazuchi said, not being satisfied until he looked over ever inch of his adventurers. "Thank the heavens."

Kashima turned towards Guts and bowed at the waist. "Thank you, sir. If it wasn't for you and your party, I don't know how we would have survived." The man said, not noticing the look of disgust Guts gave him. Guts hated people who groveled. "Milord, please meet the man who saved us. This brave soul single handedly killed FOUR infant dragons in order to protect the group."

"F...four infant dragons." The god said a look of panic on his face. "My goodness. The dungeon really is out of sorts. I've never heard of such... a... thing..." The god finally looked at Guts, and then had to tilt his head back to see the man's face, as he stood over two heads taller than Takemikazuchi. He looked at Guts; his scars, his black... scaled armor, his one... merciless eye... his monstrous aura.

"Are you alright Milord?" Maratsu asked the god who had turned white as a sheep.

"S...sorry. I just... You remind me of something I once... I mean someone! You remind me of someone!" Takemikazuchi quickly corrected himself. The god started to laugh to himself while Guts just stared at him with an unamused expression.

"Guts, you're scaring the guy. Would it kill you to break a smile." Serpico said, with a bit of a chuckle. He giving Guts' a friendly pat on the shoulder.

Guts looked over at Serpico before looking down at Takemikazuchi. A toothy grin spread across Guts' face. One that didn't only cause the god's knees to shake, but made the adventurers behind him shift nervously.

"Wow... never do that again." Serpico said, laughing weakly as Guts' face went back to the normal disinterested look.

"Serpico, stop provoking Guts." Shierke said, giving the blond former knight a glare. Serpico only shrugged and started to scratch the back of his head. She wasn't fooled. She knew how much Serpico disliked Guts, only putting up with him because of Farnese. While he won't dare do anything that might send Guts over the edge, pushing Guts' buttons was something he indulged in whenever Farnese wasn't looking.

Usually, Shierke would ignore it, as Guts' mental fortitude was far beyond Serpico's ability to test, but so soon after Casca's betrayal, she didn't want to risk anything that might trigger the Berserker Armor.

"Teacher!" Farnese shouted as she and her group ran up to Guts' team. She stopped in front of Schierke, panting for breath. "Is everything alright? I thought I felt a shift in the Astral Plane coming from the tower."

"Guts' attempt to smile caused a disturbance in the Astral Plane?" Isidro said with wide eyes.

"Guts was smiling? You mean that fatherly look he sometimes gives Schierke?" Puck asked as the Elf... pixy... Guts' parties' language corrected itself as the translation spell took effect. Elves were a completely different thing in this world. Here things like Puck were called Pixies. No one even seemed to find the presence of the small creature all that weird.

"No, it was the big toothy one. You know, the one he gives when he knows that he just screwed over someone." Isidro explained.

"Oh yeah, that one! Yeah, I could see how that would cause a shift in the..." Puck started but then stopped as Schierke quickly cast a paralyzation spell on the two big mouths.

"Would you two idiots be quiet." She hissed at them, a small flush on her face at the mention of that look that Guts often gave her when she needed support. Coughing into her head she looked back to Farnese. "We're all fine. I sensed the same thing. At first I believed that it was caused by the monsters responding to the presence of a sacrificial brand, but the feeling grew stronger around Judeau. I believe that the Dungeon itself seemed to react to the presence of the boy. It is still too early for me to say, but it seemed as though the Dungeon as a whole was a sort of shrine to a impure deity. Or maybe the shrine is just buried deep within."

"I'm sorry, Teacher. We were supposed to look after him, but we let Judeau slip away from us." Farnese said, looking to the Moonlight Boy as the child hugged onto Guts' leg.

"Don't worry about it. There isn't much that can be done in regards to keeping an eye on him. He is an Ethereal Being after all." Schierke said, shaking her head.

Erica went up to the boy and grabbed onto his head. "You aren't going to be slipping away from me again." The girl said, giving the boy a look. Judeau just seemed confused by the girl's words.

"So... you are her teacher?" Maratsu said, looking from Schierke to Farnese.

"Yes. Farnese is my apprentice of sorts in the way of magic." Schierke admitted. It was still an unusual arrangement for the little witch, since even though she was far more skilled than even some adult spellcasts, knowing several dozens of fields of magic and capable of wielding all four elements, she still considered herself a novice when compared to her own teacher.

"Ah! You're a Pallum!" Yamato said before bowing to the small girl. "I'm sorry, we thought you were an ordinary human child. You must be a skilled elder if you are looking after students. Are you the leader of your group?"

The translation spell did its thing and a few of Guts' party started to giggle as Schierke turned bright red. They thought that she was an older woman, and a hobbit. "I am not a Pallum! I'm just thirteen! I'm a perfectly normal size for my age!"

"What!? So young!" Maratsu said blinking in shock. "But your magic was so powerful. I would have sworn you were at least a level five, maybe even six." Guts' group had no idea what they meant by 'level'. As it was a concept they didn't know, the translation spell couldn't give them an equivalent.

Schierke was about to snap at him when Guts broke in. "Wouldn't be too much of a stretch to call her our leader." Guts said with a shrug. "We usually end up having to rely on her knowledge."

Schierke's blush deepened at Guts' praise. "Yes well, we should be moving. Could any of you direct us to where we need to go to exchange the magic stones? We are rather new to this city." Schierke said, looking to the Familia.

"Oh, you must be from the Beol Mountains. That explains why we've never heard of Adventurers like you before." Kashima said, giving Guts a look. A man with his appearance and strength would have gotten a lot of attention, even if the genus mage tried to fly under the radar. "The guild's exchange desk is close by. We'll show you the way."

"If you would." Schierke said with a nodded. The group formed up in its usual way. Isidro and puck at the front, frustrated that they weren't going faster, and Guts hanging behind. His eye scanning the crowded streets for anyone who might think of attacking the party. The rear guard had always been Guts' place. Protecting all those in front of him from the enemies that chased them.

As it turned out, the exchange was located inside of the giant white tower that housed the entrance to the dungeon. They still hadn't gotten a name for the large construct, but it sure was an impressive thing. The exchange hall was a large room with several counters and individuals set up to see the Adventurers who had returned from the depths in order to access their spoils.

Takemikazuchi's Familia seemed to gravitate to one individual in particular, a young woman with dark red hair and distant eyes... she also had pointed canine animal ears on her head. The word werewolf came to mind as the other-worlders looked at her. She was definitely beautiful, but she came off as standoffish.

She turned at looked at the party, registering their existence but not changing her expression. "Hey Rose, we're back!" Kashima said, giving the girl a smile, one that was not returned.

"I see. So you aren't among the dead today." Rose said, glancing towards the support who was carrying all the gathered magic stones. "Show me what you've gathered today." The support nodded and dumped out the contains of his backpack, nearly sixty of the fist sized Magic Stones. "Hm... you seem to have gotten a lot more than usual, yet you didn't get yourselves killed. Interesting."

"Yeah, well, we had some help." Kashima said with a laugh, seemingly to not care about Rose's insensitive manner.

"She's kind of a jerk." Isidro mumbled as they watched her access the pile of Magic Stones.

"It's not that surprising." Azan said, shaking his head. "Most women try to distance themselves from people who are likely to die. It makes it hurt less when the soldier doesn't come back."

After the Guild member accessed the goods, she wrote up a little report and handed over one hundred thousand valis to the Familia. While it sounded like a great deal of money to Guts' party at first, the translation spell told them the equivalent value in Midland Gold would have been about ten gold coins. A far amount for an honest days work, even split up among six people, but not enough to last more than two weeks before they would need to return for more. Though by the way the Familia was acting, it was probably the most they had seen in a while.

Rose looked at Guts' party as they went up for their turn. "So you're that new party people have been seeing about." Most people had seen them enter the tower. Guts was hard to miss. However everyone just assumed they were adventurers. Given the fact that each one was armed to the teeth and possess magic items and clothing, it seemed like a pretty safe assumption. They were probably part of Hermes Familia, given that most of their members looked like they were from a traveling circus. Hermes Familia always did just go wherever it wanted and didn't bother to check in to the Guild when they got there. The Guild wasn't even sure how many members Hermes had or what their levels were, since Hermes never told them.

"Well, don't just stand there, show me what you have." Guts, Serpico and Isidro dumped out the constance of their bags and the woman's eyes widened. Not only had they been carrying over three hundred of the fist sized stones, they also had four stones the size of Isidro's entire chest from the infant dragons, as well as some of the other things they salvaged at Schiekre's instruction. "Are... are those dragon fangs? And those magic stones are..."

She sighed. Hermes Familia must have had some more second class Adventurers, level threes and fours, that he hadn't told anyone about. Rose continued working until she had worked out just how much the mass of items was worth before turning back to the group.

"All together you collected fifteen hundred thousand valis worth of items. Now before I give you the money, I need to register you with the Guild's records. Would you mind telling me your names and the Familia you are associated with?" Rose asked looking at the group as she held a clipboard.

"Familia? What's a Familia?" Isidro said, scratching his head. Rose raised an eyebrow, looking at the boy like he was an idiot.

"I'm sorry, but we are a traveling group of mercenaries. We don't belong to any larger organization." Schierke said to the woman.

"Ha ha, very funny kids, now who gave you your Falnas?" Rose said, not buying it.

"We don't have any... Falnas." Guts said crossing his arms. He didn't know what a Falna was, but he knew that he didn't know what it was. So he must not have had one.

Not only was Rose looking dumbstruck, but so was Takemikazuchi Familia and all the other people nearby who had looked in because of the large hull that they had brought back.

"What do you mean you aren't in a Familia? Who's your god?" Kashima asked the group.

Farnese froze and looked at Guts as the large man opened his mouth. "Guts don't you dare..."

"I don't give a shit about any damn god." The man said, his gruff voice carrying over the entire room. Everyone staring at him with open mouths. Guts' party was either laughing weakly at Guts' response or preparing themselves to fight off any religious nutters who might try to attack them.

Rose stared at them for a while before sighing. "I'll get my manager."

* * *

 **Takemikazuchi's reaction to Guts was because of something that is going to come up a bit more later, in that some of the Gods are going to be convinced that Guts is the human incarnation of the one eyed black dragon that killed off the entirety of Zeus and Hera's Familias.**


	5. Chapter 5

"I can't believe that took back half the money just because we weren't part of a... Familia." Isidro grumbled as he and the rest of the party sat in a shitty pub they found on the rough side of town. While they had the money they needed to splurge, it was best to make sure it will last if they need it to. Or at least, that was what Schierke said. She cautioned them about the troubles of being in another world without a clear understanding of the culture, and they listened to her. Wasn't like they had anyone else's advice to listen to.

Most of the group agreed that they got ripped off, but Guts and Rickert just shrugged. It was how things were when you were a mercenary. You were always getting ripped off. So long as your employers don't try to murder you in your sleep, you are doing pretty good by their standards. The only real problem they had was what the guild manager said after telling them they won't get the full pay check. 'Don't come back unless you have joined a Familia.'

The main problem with this was that none of them had a clue how to do that. They weren't even sure what a Familia was. Whenever they asked someone they just acted like they didn't believe the group when they claimed not to know. Guts was half considering asking people on the edge of a knife just to show them how serious he was. Too bad the locals probably wouldn't take kindly to that. Same reason they didn't just hypnotize anyone.

"Between meals, inn fees, getting spar clothes and renewing our supplies, the money we have right now will last us about a week." Serpico said, leaning back in his seat and looking towards where a few idiots were getting way too drunk and had attempted to flirt with a large Dwarven man, prompting a large fight in the middle of the pub. Guts smirked at the sight and shook his head. Even in other worlds, with nonhuman beings, bars were still bars.

"So then the question is what do we do now? Searching for enough jobs in this city will be difficult if we can't depend on fighting, since we don't have any connections." Farnese said, sipping at her ale.

"Leaving the city doesn't give us much prospects either. Maybe we could find some farm work but it would not be an easy thing." Azan said scratching his chin. "Never truly appreciated how well we had it back in our world until now."

"Leaving the city isn't a good option. Our only real choice is to figure out how to get ourselves into a Familia." Schierke said closing her eyes. "Did you notice how those people we fought alongside seemed to be stronger than your average human? Not like Guts' level of strength, but stronger than their frames should have been." Isidro just scratched his head, not knowing what the witch was taking about.

"Yeah, I noticed." Guts said with a nod. "They could shrug off most of those rocks that the apes were throwing. Even if they weren't able to effectively block or counter from lack of skill and resources, they could take a hit better than I would have expected."

"I believe that it was from a blessing that they had received, a sort of magical protection. That man we saw just outside the Dungeon, did anyone else feel that there was something different about him?" Schierke said with a glance around herself.

"Indeed. Even an ordinary man like myself, with no connection to any magic, could feel it." Azan said, nodding his head and fingering at his mustache. "What exactly was that feeling? It was like that of an evil spirit... only different. More like..." The old knight's eyes went to Judeau who was struggling with keeping his spoon steady as Erica tried to teach him out to use it properly. The kid was a mess from spilt food, but even so, the presence he gave off was unmistakable.

"Yes, though this man's influence was a lot stronger than even Judeau's. What you saw was a God." Schierke said calmly. Isidro spit out some of his beer and started to pound at his chest. All the other party members looked just as surprised... except for Guts.

"Figured." Guts half growled. Schierke almost dropped the conversation completely as the helmet on the Berserker Armor grew slightly, but Guts quickly brushed it off, reclaiming complete control of himself.

He hadn't forgotten about the 'Idea of Evil'. While the type of feeling it was differed and this thing looked more human, Guts felt it was in some ways the same, more an idea that a man. He wished he had the chance to cut that thing in two, but since Casca hadn't been a member of God Hand, the bastard didn't both to show.

He often wondered what would happen if one killed the manifested form of humanities view of the nature of evil. Unfortunately he never got the chance to find out. Maybe he will get another chance to in this world. He must have spotted at least three of these 'Gods' while they walked the streets. If you get a hundred people together, you could probably find a good reason to kill one of them.

"What!? That was a God!? Like, a real God!?" Isidro said still in shock. "But he looked like he was going to piss himself at the sight of Guts! You would think a God wouldn't have to fear him so much!"

"Even the Gods realize there are some things that should just be left alone. What's the human expression? Fools go where angels fear to tread?" Puck said pretending to be sagely.

"Teacher... are you saying... I mean... God..." Farnese didn't even know where to began. She had left the church of the Holy See after all. Guts had convinced her that praying to a god was a waste of time and energy that could be better spent picking up a sword and saving damn yourself.

"Gods are a little different then you think about them in the Holy See. The God of the Holy See probably doesn't exist, as it is too complex to be focused on. Either that, or he is an entity beyond a normal God." Schierke said, shaking her head. "Farnese, you have always been open minded about my teachings, but given your past, this might be a little hard for you. I suppose we had to have the conversation sooner or later. A witch must understand the nature of the Astral Realm, and how it is connected to mankind. More specifically, how Gods are born."

All the party held their breath as they listened to the young witch. Schierke reached out to their minds, providing them with a vision of empty space. A place where she could show them her lesson.

"The best example of the process would be of the Great Four Angels, the Elemental Kings. Tell me Farnese, what are they? What is the difference between them and any base spirit? What separates Gedula from a Salamander?" Schierke asked her student. In their minds, the party could see the vague human shape of the powerful King of Fire, and the tiny little spark, smaller than a firefly's rear end light of a single Salamander spirit.

"Um... A Salamander is the Astral Form of the nature of a flame and... so is Gedula. Gedula is just far more powerful. I'm afraid I don't know what makes them different." Farnese admitted.

"It is because of humanity." Schierke said, letting the vision of Gedula disappear. "Like you said, a Salamander is the Astral Form of the nature of a flame. But each Salamander is only connected to an individual, piece of a flame. A fire is made up of thousands of pieces of flame." More and more Salamanders appeared becoming like a swarm of fireflies. "Even though they are all similar, they lack something that would allow them to come together; an idea."

A bubble appeared around the lot of Salamanders, pulling them all together to make a flame the size of a campfire. "Through thought, humans are able to shape the Astral Plane. Each individual human can only cause an extremely small change, but with millions of humans it is like drops of water forming an large wave. Humans long ago looked at fire and tried to figure out what made a flame a flame. The rules that it followed, the things that it could do. Thousands of thoughts came together connecting together all fire by the nature that people saw that it had in common." More and more Salamanders were added to the flame. "And from that understanding of fire Gedula was born." The fire changed, taking on the vague shape that was often connected with the Angel of Fire.

"Alright, I think I can understand." Farnese said with a nod. "So a God is made of spirits that are stringed together by an idea."

"No. Close, but not quiet. You see, Gedula is divine, but not a God." Schierke said, shaking her head. Gedula disappeared and something else appeared in the groups mind. Something that they would find impossible to describe, but knew all the same... or thought they knew. Their understanding and perception of it changed as they tried to anchor it down.

"Understanding. Once someone understands something or believes that they do, they stop thinking about it." Farnese said, getting what her teacher was trying to show her.

"Exactly. Gedula was made for what people understood of natural fire. As such, Gedula is still much closer to its ordinal natural form. But when humans don't understand things, they keep thinking about it. They think about it more and harder and the thoughts stake up. And since the ideas of a human are formed in the image of humans themselves, the Astral Form of the idea becomes more and more human as people think about it." The thing that the group had been unable to describe started to change, becoming human-like in shape and gaining human characteristics and personality traits that were connected to the properties that it had before. It was the personification of the idea. "That is how Gods are born. They are born of the thoughts and dreams of humanity about something that they can't fully understand."

"So it is humans that created the Gods?" Azan said, scratching his chin. "That is different then what the Holy See says. Can't say I understand it though."

"I suppose so, but the point is that these people who you sense that power from are Ethereal beings in human form, descended from the Astral Plane. It is most likely these individuals that give the blessings out to the beings of the Physical World so that they could go into the dungeon without being torn to pieces. And if I had to take a guess, I would say that a Familia was a group of people who all have the blessings of the same God or Goddess." Schierke finally finished.

"So in order to become a part of a Familia, we have to get the blessing of a God." Guts said, clearly not liking the idea. Guts was perfectly fine with magic and spirits, but Gods... Guts didn't like Gods. "The Gods are too lazy to clean up the monsters themselves, so the force humans to risk there lives. Bastards."

"No different from those blustering Nobles who never touched a sword." Rickert said. "Just be glad that it is a paying job." How in the world did those two get so jaded?

"Guts, if you want we could hold out, try to find another option before trying to..." Farnese started, but Guts just got up out of his seat.

"No sitting around. If a God is what we need we will find ourselves a God. Just don't expect me to bend knee." Guts said turning around and walking out of the pub, back handing a man who thought he was part of the drunken fight on his way out the door.

* * *

Hestia, the goddess of the Hearth, hummed happily to herself as she returned from work, back towards the little broken down church that housed her and the only member of her Familia, Bell. It was a living condition so poor that even the word humble would be laughed at, but Hestia didn't care. She didn't care if she was poor and had to work hard every day just to make ends meat. She didn't care of her Familia was the weakest in the entire city. She didn't care if everyone laughed at her behind her back. So long as she had Bell she was happy.

...Alright, so maybe all those things bothered her a bit, but it wasn't like she could do much about them. Ever since she gave up her seat at the big table in heaven to child like Dionysus, she hadn't been exactly well known among mankind. So no one wanted to be in her Familia. Bell was the only one who accepted her, and for that she loved him with all her heart. But it was hard for a single adventurer to keep a Familia going. Even with Hestia also working, they struggled.

"Oy, you're a Goddess aren't you?" Hestia stopped at the gruff sounding voice, turning to see a massive man, over six and a half feet tall staring down at Sekhmet, a Goddess of medicine. His muscles were huge and he had the look of a man who had walked through hell and back only to realize he had forgot his purse and walked straight back in again. "My friends and I are looking to join a Familia."

"I... well... that is..." Sekhmet stammered as she backed away quickly before turning and running away screaming.

The man didn't pursue her, just watched as she ran with a single left eye. Hestia felt something from the man, a dangerous aura and... an overwhelming sadness. She wondered how many times that had happened, that he had asked a God or Goddess to let them into their family, only to be rejected because of the way he looked. It reminded the small Goddess of her friend Hephaestus. She remembered how lonely Hephaestus had been in heaven, and how even members of her own Familia shrank away at the sight of her right eye to the point where she had to wear a eyepatch over it in her own home. It had always saddened Hestia that no one would look past that eye to see what an amazing a person Hephaestus was.

Hestia crossed the street over to the man. Wasn't she just thinking about how much easier Bell's life would be if they had more adventurers? "Excuse me." She said, getting the large man's attention. "I am the Goddess Hestia, if you want, I would be more than happy to let you into my Familia." Hestia gave the man her most honest smile.

"Nine." The man said looking down at Hestia who was only barely more than half his height.

"Huh?" The Goddess responded, tilting her head.

"Including me, my party has nine people. Six of us are strong fighters. Out of the other three, one is a mage in training and the other is a blacksmith. Will you take us?" The man said calmly. Hestia's eyes widened. She had just hit the jackpot.

* * *

Guts' party was surprised when Guts returned with a Goddess that would take them. But they were even more surprised by what the Goddess was like.

"Hey Azan, this... Hestia girl, she's the Goddess of the Hearth, right? So... doesn't that make her the personification of what humanity thinks the ideal wife is?" Serpico mumbled to the older knight.

"That it does." Azan nodded. The boys all looked at the Goddess that walked in front of them, bubbling with happy energy. She was pretty short, being around the same hight as Erica, with long black hair that was tied up in two long ponytails using a pair of bells. She was wearing a white dress that fit her curves with two blue ribbons, one around her neck and one around her shoulders which was used to support her... rather massive breasts. Her chest was at least twice the size of Farnese, and Farnese was a pretty well developed young woman. With the girls small body frame, the breasts looked even bigger.

"You know, I don't think I ever truly understood just how fucked up humanity was until now." Serpico said, getting nods of agreement from the others.

* * *

Bell was nearing the old Church where he stayed with his Goddess, Hestia. His mind was up in the clouds. He couldn't help but think about that Black Swordsman. How effortlessly he had killed the Minotaur. After the man had left, Bell had harvested the Minotaur's magic stone. That stone alone was worth more than the rest of the stones Bell had retrieved that day.

If he had been as strong as that man, then he wouldn't be able to help his Goddess. He owed Hestia more than he could ever hope to pay back. She had been the only one to give him a chance. The only one who had believed in him.

He wanted to get stronger. Strong enough to provide for Hestia. As strong as the Black Swordsman. He could feel the desire for that strength burning in his very bones.

Bell reached the doors of the church and pushed it open. "Goddess, I'm home." He said in his usual way. However the moment he entered the Church he froze as he saw not only the Black Swordsman and his Goddess, but several other people gathered in the church with them.

The top of the man's armor had been removed and Bell could see the light of a Falna being placed. "Welcome home!" Hestia shouted, giving Bell her best smile, the same way she always did. "Look Bell, we have new members."

The Black Swordsman looked at Bell with a steady gaze before simply looking away. Bell half wondered if the man didn't recognize him. Maybe he just wasn't much of a talker.

"Guts, these curses are really bad. You should probably get them looked at." Hestia said as she looked at Guts' back at two brand marks on either side of his neck.

"Schierke can take care of them. We just haven't had the chance to." The man said in the same disinterested tone he had after killing the Minotaur.

"Alright, if you say so. But if something is wrong, let me know." Hestia said, clapping the magic symbols down into man's back. "Well Guts, you are officially a level one member of the Hestia Familia."

Bell's eyes widened in shock. Level one? No way, that wasn't possible. There was no way that anyone could possibly be that strong as just a level one, an newly minted level one too. A level one that would have zeros in all its basic stats. Could a human really be that strong without a Falna? Or was the man not human at all?

"Congratulations." Bell said nervously as he went to where Hestia had put the paper with all the man's stats on it. He tried to be discreet about it, but other people were still watching him.

Name: Guts

Level: 1

Race: Human

Bell's eyes focused on those two line. The man was human and level one, yet he was able to wield that massive sword so fast that Bell hadn't been able to even see it properly. Humans were usually seen as the weakest of the races alongside Pallums. How could this man be so strong without any magical enhancements?

Bell felt it. The burning desire to have that kind of strength. To close the massive gap that lay between him and this man among men.

"Alright, who's next?" Hestia asked the group.

"Judeau is the only boy left. So best do him next, then we can send the boys away for some privacy." Erica said, pulling the seven year old boy forward. The small child looked at Hestia with wide eyes and Hestia smiled down at him.

"Oh, what a cute little Lux spirit you are." She said patting his head before turning him around and pulling up the gown he had been wearing, exposing everything along with it, though Hestia hardly seemed to mind. "Don't worry, this doesn't hurt at all."

She raised a needle and pricked her finger before letting the drop of blood fall down onto the child's back. She humming to herself as she created the new Falna and the shape of the golden cup appeared on the boy's back before runes of light started to appear.

But the moment the runes fully appeared the Goddess froze in shock and her long twintails began to ripple, the way they did when she was surprised. "HUH!" She cried out causing the little boy to cover his ears.

"Goddess, what is the..." Bell said until he read the runes.

Name: Judeau

Level: 1

Race: Demigod

* * *

 **Skills: (They don't have all of them immediately, but they develop them quickly/off screen)**

 **Guts:**

 **Berserk: Strength rises every time the user takes damage. Effect rises based on anger level**

 **Artel Assist: When the user is carrying a certain amount of weight, the skill will help compensate in abilities. The amount compensated depends on the weight**

 **Ail mac Midna: Provides high resistance against drowsiness, increases the user's ability to stay awake, and increases endurance against the fire element**

 **To epivarýno Atlas (Burden of Atlas): Max stat per level of Strength and Endurance increased to 1999**

* * *

 **Schierke:**

 **Spirit Healer: Regain magical energy at an accelerated rate  
**

 **Inner Shrine: Massive increase in magic when in a trance**

 **Over one hundred spells of varying strength.**

* * *

 **Farnese:**

 **Inner Shrine: Massive increase in magic when in a trance** **  
**

 **Healing magic + a few others**

* * *

 **Serpico:**

 **Solmani: Improves strength and speed at acceleration**

 **Open fighter: Increase stats in wide open spaces**

* * *

 **Isidro:**

 **Flames of Youth: Increase rate in which stats increase**

* * *

 **Rickert:**

 **Metalworking: Improve skill with shaping metal**

 **Tinkering: steadies hands went working with metal pieces**

* * *

 **Erica:**

 **Metalworking: Improve skill with shaping metal**

* * *

 **Azan:**

 **Noble Brave:** **Provides high resistance against mental attacks**

* * *

 **Judeau:**

 **Son of Man: ?..?**

 **Healing magic**

 **Other magic**


	6. Chapter 6

Large white wings. Light so bright as to be blinding. A horrible cry that echoed all around her. She could feel her vary soul being burned away through her eyes, but she couldn't look away. It was so beautiful and so terrible.

The White Hawk.

Farnese bolted up in her makeshift bed, sweat pouring down her body as she struggled to breath. Her body ached from riving about in her sleep, and her skin felt like ice underneath the layer of cold sweat. She couldn't stop shaking.

"Here, try this." Farnese looked up to see her Teacher, Schierke, holding out a steaming cup of herbal tea in front of her. Farnese tried to take if from her teacher, but Schierke pulled it away, insisting that she would hold it so that Farnese's unsteady hands wouldn't cause her to accidentally spill on herself. After a few sips, whatever magic Schierke had put into the mixture started to take effect and Farnese began to calm down.

"Thank you, Teacher." Farnese said guiltily, like a child who had been caught wetting the bed.

"Don't worry. I can't sleep either." Schierke said, putting down the cup and sitting with her legs crossed on the ground, her staff laid across her lap. "Those of us who have opened up ourselves to the spirits of the Astral Plane are much more effected by the presence of powerful evil. The white hawk was as evil as they come. Even the others aren't sleeping easy." She looked over at the only real bed in the room where Erica and Hestia slept. The girls had claimed the basement of the little church that they were staying in, while the boys had to sleep on the main area of the church under a roof full of holes. They didn't complain. It seemed that even the new boy, Bell, had been used to sleeping on the ground under the open sky up until recently.

Erica was hugging onto the goddess tight, shifting around a bit with her eyes clenched as if from a bad dream. It was odd to see her burying her face in the Goddesses large chest, with the goddess holding her gently like a mother with a baby, even though the two of them were the same height.

"No need to be ashamed of it." Schierke said.

Looking closer, Farnese could see a mark on Schierke's lip where the young witch had been biting it. She could feel her teacher's feelings leaking out a bit. She was afraid, even after a whole day, the hawk's presence still hung over them.

"Farnese, what do the spirits tell you about the time of day? How long until the rise of the sun?" Schierke asked Farnese, trying to give her something to distract her. It was an easy task. Plant spirits where connected to the cycles of the sun and moon. She closed her eyes, projecting her astral body out into the nearby area and checked.

"A little less than an hour." Farnese said, looking over to her teacher who nodded.

"I don't think there is another food here for all of us, since they would only have had Hestia and Bell before. Perhaps we should walk some of the boys and see if we can do some early morning shopping for food." Schierke suggested. The months spent with Guts' traveling party had taught her how to deal with being new to an area inhabited by humans. She might have been a sheltered girl before, but she was nothing if not a fast study and now had a few street smarts of her own, if not as many as Isidro, Guts, or Serpico.

"It might also be nice to get some new clothes. Ours are still a little stained." Farnese pointed out, looking down at her own clothes that had their own far amount of demon blood on them.

"Hm, perhaps for the rest of you. I will stick to my witch's garb." Schierke said with a smile.

"That's only because the Witch of the Forest enchanted it to stay clean no matter what." Farnese pointed out. "I don't suppose you know the spell for that? It would be pretty handy."

Schierke's smile faded a bit. "No. Milady never taught me that spell. She didn't have a chance to." Schierke said, holding onto a bit of her blue cape. After a few moments of awkward silence the two started moving. Farnese went to waking up Erica and Hestia while Schierke moved up stairs.

The first thing that Schierke saw when she opened the door leading from the basement at the back of the worn down church was Azan and Rickert, both awake and sitting around keeping themselves busy. Azan appeared to have found a few logs of wood and was trying to teach himself whittling with very little success giving the number of discarded shapeless lumps there were, as well as the number of cuts on his fingers. Meanwhile Rickert was polishing some of his remaining short swords and daggers, taking note of what it would take to refresh his stock of grenades and crossbow bolts.

Nearby was Serpico, laying on his back with his eyes closed and his body mostly relaxed. It didn't fool Schierke who could still feel the young man's conscious mind messing with the wind spirits.

The only ones who were really asleep were Isidro, Puck and Bell.

"Couldn't sleep either?" Rickert said, glancing at the young witch. Schierke just shook her head. "I never really understood it. Guts only seemed pissed off after the first time. I guess I should have guessed that since Casca had been the way she had, that the Eclipse was a lot different than just facing down a few Apostles. Can honestly say that Zodd has been replaced in my nightmares."

"Aye. No matter how many times I see the world coming to an end, I can't seem to sleep the nights after." Azan said, rubbing at his sleeve before throwing a glare at Serpico. "But of course he seems just fine with it."

"Not as fine as you might think." Schierke said, picking up a bit of wood off the floor and tossing it at Serpico, only to have it be deflected by a shield of wind. "Some are just better at hiding it." Though she did throw her own glare at Isidro. "While some are just monkeys who can't even understand it enough to be shaken."

"The blessing of young, when you are too stupid to realize you aren't immortal." Azan said with a envious chuckle. "You have to admit though, that steadfastness is his best quality."

Schierke puffed out her cheeks. She would sooner go through another Eclipse than admit that. Isidro wasn't steadfast, just stupid. He wasn't anything like Guts.

Looking around the room she realized she didn't see Guts, nor Judeau. "Where's Guts?"

"If you listen, you can hear him." Rickert said, putting down one of his knives and moving on to another one. Once he said it, she realized she could hear a steady sound of rushing air accruing at regular intervals somewhere nearby. "He's been at it all night. Never stopping for more than a few minutes. Try to talk him into giving it a rest, but all he did was more a little further away from the church."

"Guts couldn't sleep? Was he watching out for evil spirits?" Schierke asked. Guts should have quickly realized that there won't be any coming tonight. Not in this city that seemed to be protected by the Gods. Why didn't he go to sleep?

"No, he didn't want to sleep. Said that he would see her if he did." Rickert said, shaking his head. "Losing her like that must have hit him hard. Now he can't help but think about her."

"Makes me almost hope that I never fall in love. Well, really in love. I've had a few birds but nothing serious." Azan said before chipping his latest attempt at whittling, swearing and throwing the wood and knife away.

"Once, when Guts was angry, he told me a story Casca told him about Griffith. About how Griffith whored himself out to the Lord of Doldrey for money back when the Hawks were just starting out. How later on he used the Lord's love for him against the man and killed him." Rickert said. "I wonder if Casca did the same thing. When we were on the run in Midland, we were in a pretty bad spot. We were planning on rescuing Griffith, but to do it we needed a lot of power. Guts was the equal to an army more than a hundred men strong. I wonder if she only said she loved him in order to insure Guts' loyalty. Using his love for her the same way Griffith would have. Guts is probably wondering the same thing." An angry looked passed over Rickert's face and he flicked the knife he had been holding through the air, cutting a butterfly in two with the piece of pixy steel.

It was clear as day to see how broken up Rickert was about Casca's betrayal. Guts must have been even more hurt. Schierke couldn't even image it. What would she have done if she had one day found out that her master had never loved her and had just been using her as a convent tool. Earth shattering doesn't even began to describe it.

Shaking her head, Schierke told them all to get up and get ready to go and get something to eat, then she went out to see Guts, conjuring a ball of light to guide her in the early morning darkness.

The man was standing near the edge of the church's grounds, swinging his sword again and again. A hard sweat was covering his body. He really must have been at it all night. But the thing that was most disturbing was the drops of blood coming through the cracks in his armor.

"You're opening up your wounds." Schierke scolded him. Guts only grunted to show that he heard her, but he did lower his sword. Schierke watched as he went over onto a stone bench where Judeau was sleeping and sat down, resting his sword against his shoulder. Sighing, she approached him. "Take off your armor. I'll treat the wounds and ink the magic circles onto the Brands."

Guts nodded and began to take off the armor. The clothes he had on underneath them were stained with sweat and the man's blood, so worn down as to be nothing more than a rat eat sack by this point. Not that Guts himself really cared. He took them off and through them onto the pile along with the armor, exposing his naked upper body to the world.

It wasn't a sight that anyone in their right minds would call pretty. He looked like hell, looking more like a patchwork scarecrow made of scars than than a human man. Some of the bigger ones were entire feet across and inches wide. He had been through things that no man had any right to live through, but he did. Not only did he survive them, but each time he would push himself back up and just keep moving, even as he was bleeding to death. He had always been the unshakable mountain. Something created by nature's power, but something that was beyond even nature's power to destroy, not in a hundred thousand years. No matter how powerful the storms you could be sure that once it was over, Guts would still be standing.

But Casca... Casca had managed to shake him. Managed to leave him sleepless. Managed to bring him to his knees. Managed to make him weep. Schierke tried her best not to see the signs of washed away dirt from the man's tears. She told herself it was just from sweat.

She worked as fast as she could, but it was still more than a little light out before she was done placing the circles around Guts' two Brands. The others were already awake and ready to go, so Guts put back on his armor and they went back into town.

"Bell was it?" Azan said moving up next to the white haired boy.

"Y...yes sir, that's me." Bell said seeming a little unsure of how to act around the old man.

"No need for any 'sirs' my boy. We will be fighting alongside one and other after all." Azan said, trying to get the boy to loosen up. "I'm just wondering where I should go to buy a weapon. While I still have my sword, I'm just not the same without my clubbed staff."

"Well, there are shops that sell weapons in the higher floors of Babel Tower." Bell said. The party all looked over to the oversized tower. "Since we have to go there anyways to enter the dungeon, we could always look around."

"Great, I usually like to make my own weaponry, but it would be nice to refill the stocks." Rickert said, testing one of his knifes one a stray hair and grinning with satisfaction when it cut the hair longways without a problem.

* * *

"Well I'll be damned. Guess gold really is a throw away resource around here." Isidro said, his eyes wide as he started down the hall of the forth floor of the Tower of Babel. The entire thing, floors, walls and ceilings was made of gold, real one hundred percent pure gold. People were just walking on it, like it wasn't a big deal, leaving foot prints in the soft metal along with bits of dirt from dirty shoes.

"There must be more gold in this one hallway than in all of Midland." Farnese mumbled, unable to believe her eyes.

"Worthless shit hurts the eyes." Guts grumbled, squinting his one eye against the light reflecting off of it all. It wasn't bad enough for gold to be worthless, it also had to be tacky too.

"Guys... I think we should just go..." Rickert said as he stood in front of one of the many stores.

"There is nothing for us here." Azan said, nodding in agreement. "All of it is far too expensive."

Farnese walked over and looked over the items before paling. Even the throwing knives cost over one hundred thousand valis, a short sword cost over four million. "I suppose a good sword does cost as much as a castle." Farnese said sadly.

"With all due respect milady, that is just crap that merchants tell rich noblemen with more money than sense to convince them to buy decorative swords that could hardly cut a stick of butter." Azan said as he glared at one of the offending weapons. He didn't even notice the guilty blush on the girl's face. She had been one of those named nobles. Bell also looked shock. He had apparently always admired the shiny swords, even if he would probably never have the money needed to buy them.

"Enchanted against fire, resistant to rust. What is this crap? A sword of steel can take twelve hundred degrees before melting, and if a sword gets blunt or rusty, you just sharpen it, polish it, or get a new one. I should be able to buy a hundred sharpened swords for these prices. I just want something that hits heavy enough to break the bone or sharp enough to cut through hard joints." The Knight of the Bridge half growled. He completely lost his mind when he saw a clubbed staff that boasted a 'lightening enchantment'. "THAT DEFEATS THE ENTIRE POINT OF A CLUB! WHOEVER MADE THIS NEEDS TO HAVE A SWORD SHOVED UP THEIR ASS SO THEY CAN UNDERSTAND WHICH IS THE POINTY END!"

After that little display, a few guards from Hephaestus Familia to ask them to kindly leave. Then the knight gave them a piece of his mind. When the guards tried to force them, the elderly knight knocked out two of them before Guts and Serpico could drag him away. He was shouting in indignation all the way to the stairs back down to the dungeon.

It was agreed that they needed to find a smithy that would hire Rickert and Erica before former Holy Knight started a witch hunt for the blacksmith of the city and crucifies them one by one for their blasphemy.

* * *

 **Not understanding that some blessed swords can cut through normal steel, Azan goes into a rage about the prices... he's still right about the prices being stupidly high when most of the weapons seem pretty easy to make.**

* * *

 **I'm going to start keeping a running record of Guts' status so that people can get a good idea of it.**

 **Remember, all stats start at zero, because strength of the body isn't included, just power gained from the Falna absorbing exilia(experience of the soul). After you level up, it resets to zero, but saves all the strength from before the level up.**

 **So if as a level 1 you get an 800 in strength and then as a level 2 you get another 500, then all together you got 1300.**

* * *

 **Quick explanation of the letter system.**

 **I 0 -99 | H 100 - 199 | G 200 - 299 | F 300 - 399 | E 400 - 499 | D 500 - 599 | C 600 - 699 | B 700 - 799 | A 800 - 899 | S 900 - 999 | SS 1000 - 1099 |** **SSS 1100 - 1199**

 **S is supposed to be the usual cap for Stat points per level. Bell is strong for his level in the canon because he can reach SS and SSS. If Guts reaches 1999 it would be SSSSSSSSSSS or 11Ss. Queue jaw drops.**

 **And since the average per level reached by most people seems to be about 650, that would mean with one level he would gain as much strength as the average person would in three levels. Though only if he reaches the 1950 mark. Add that to Guts' already inhuman natural strength, and you got someone who is STRONG.**

 **How strong is Guts? Stronger than anyone could ever need to be unless they for some reason had to fight against the remaining members of God Hand and their Apostles, all empowered by Mutated** **Falnas that let them drain exilia from killed Adventurers, given to them by the Idea of Evil after they followed Guts' party into that world to retrieve the Moonlight Boy in order to corrupt him and turn him into the 'Truth of Peace' that will bring about the destruction of the Astral Plane, thus destroying all worlds** **... or something like that...**

 **To be honest, I have no idea what I am doing. I just pulled that last giant paragraph-sentence out of my ass. It's a good thing my ass is so big. Otherwise these things would really give me butt pains.**

* * *

 **The () means it hasn't been updated yet, and is thus not in effect. So right now it would be from his all-nighter practicing.**

 **Name: Guts**

 **Level: 1**

 **Race: Human**

 **Strength: I 0 (+21)**

 **Endurance: I 0 (+20)**

 **Dexterity: I 0 (+5)**

 **Agility: I 0 (+3)**

 **Magic: I 0**

 **Skills:**

 **To epivarýno Atlas (Burden of Atlas): Max stat per level of Strength and Endurance increased to 1999**


	7. Chapter 7

Freya stared into her magic mirror, not wanting to so much as blink, least this impossible man would disappear.

She had never seen anything like him before in her life. She had just been spying on her little Bell and his brand new party, when she spotted the man completely by mistake and became captivated by his soul.

It wasn't anything like Bell's soul. Bell's soul was the beauty of truly endless possibilities. A soul without any color, not a single tainted mark in the young boy. He was like a diamond that had yet to be shaped, still beautiful beyond words, but promising even greater beauty once properly shined.

This man's soul was nothing like that. It was tainted by the darkness. Covered in hundreds of scars, overflowing with pain, sorrow and rage. It was a soul that had seen bloody wars, unspeakable betrayals, horrors beyond human comprehension and had felt the fingers of demons clawing into it. It was a savage beast that cannot be fully tamed. A soul black as the night sky... but just like with the night sky, the darkness just makes the specks of light within even more beautiful than the sun. The small rays of hope, compassion and friendship struggling to exist in the ocean of darkness. It was beautiful in its own way, in that way that only tragedies could be.

She found herself wanting it. But at the same time, she wanted to get rid of it.

To have such a soul near her precious Bell. It would risk staining his purity. Changing him from a perfect diamond to an muddy quartz. He would lose that unique quality that made him special. But she had never seen anything like the man's soul either.

She wanted to have both of them!

...No... She mustn't be greedy. You couldn't keep both a innocent white rabbit and a savage black wolf in the same pen and not except a disaster. The question was, which one did she want more?

As a Goddess of Love and Death, she felt a strong pull towards the mysterious dark man. He was familiar with both, being both the destroyer and the one who had suffered the lose. Then again, aren't those exact same qualities going to make him difficult to control? Freya found herself wondering if even she could control the dark stranger. A man who was bathed in death and tragedy, whose vary soul had been scarred by rage and distrust.

Maybe she should look more into who this man was before she made her final choice.

It would also give her a chance to look into the other child. The one with the soul larger than all the others and bright as the moon. The soul that made even her a little uneasy. It was like staring into a large mirror, a mirror that didn't reflect her beautiful person, but rather the nature of her own soul, exposing the truth about who she was, showing her darker emotions that lay underneath the surface. Her own insecurities.

Seeing the small boy's soul... it made her uncomfortable.

She didn't even know what the boy even was. At first she thought he might be a Spirit of Light, but his soul was too powerful for that, and there was something... human about it.

It was a soul that she greatly wanted to just disappear.

* * *

Bell didn't know what to do. He felt like an idiot staring in wonder at his new party members as they worked. Not a single one of them hesitated, no wasted movements when they attacked, no staggering when they defended. They were like professionals, even though they had only became adventurers the night before. He had heard them identifying themselves as mercenaries. Fighters for hire. Did such people exist in this day and age? They had back before the gods descended, but after that how could one fight without the blessing of a God or Goddess?

The party quickly preceded through the first few levels, brushing off the attacks from the monsters that had given Bell trouble just the day before as if they were more like obnoxious flies than humanoid wolves. Even Isidro, who was a year younger than Bell seeming sure of himself with his unusual style. Guts had yet to even draw his sword, instead using a small throwing knife was a collection of half a dozen he had been carrying.

Bell spotted a War Shadow coming towards they from the right side. He had never fought one before. He had never been this deep in the dungeon before. They were on level six already, and didn't seem to be slowing down.

Bell went forward to try to contest the creature. He didn't want to let all the others do all the work. He would never get stronger if he didn't fight. If he wanted to become as strong as Guts, then he would need to learn to fight as well as the Black Swordsman.

War Shadows were monsters with thin frames and long limbs. Their long arms held sharp nailed claws that could cut through leather and flesh with ease. They weren't the smartest of fighters, but they were pretty fast.

The War Shadow rushed towards Bell, swinging its claw in an attempt to kill the boy. Bell used his best stat to counter, his agility. He rolled to the side of the attack, letting the monster's momentum carry it past him as its swing missed. Then Bell attacked with his dagger in a wide slash, aiming for the creature's side.

The War Shadow's arm came back and Bell found his dagger sinking into the monster's arm, hitting the bone. He tried to pull his blade out, but it didn't come out easy, and by the time he did, the injured monster was preparing to cut open his stomach with its other call.

Bell didn't even have time to think about evading before a hand grabbed onto the War Shadow's arm, lifted it off the ground and throw it across the hall and into one of the stone walls hard enough to crack the monster's skull open.

Bell looked up at Guts as the one eyed man stared down at him with his dead expression. He didn't know what to do. He felt embarrassed at having to be saved again. He expected the man to tell him off for getting in the way. But when Guts finally did say something, it wasn't about Bell's performance.

"That knife, where did you get it?" Guts asked, looking at the knife.

"Huh? I got if from the guild when I started." Bell said looking down at his knife. Guts gestured at him to had it over. When he held it out to the man, he was surprised when rather than grabbing the handle, Guts grabbed it by the blade.

He lifted it up in front of his face, looking at the metal before scoffing and squeezing down on it until it cracked and broke into pieces. "Piece of crap." Bell couldn't believe his eyes. The man broke the weapon with his bare hand and didn't so much as get a papercut. "Rickert, toss me one of your spare combat knifes!"

Rickert complied, tossing Guts a knife that was a few inches longer than Bell's old one. The man grabbed it out of the air with his false hand, where it stuck to the magnet in his palm even though the fingers didn't clench at it.

"Watch." Guts told him walking towards the injured monster as he pulled the sheath off of the knife and stuck it into his belt.

Bell did watch. He watched as Guts lowered himself into a stance. She watched the smooth dodges, how with each passing Guts preformed a nimble thrust of his dagger before retreating rather than slashing with it the way Bell had been. He watched as he aimed for the limbs and joints. He watched the way he used his free hand, lowering himself to the ground in order to use it to redirect himself, or picking up a handful of sand to throw in the monster's eyes. He watched as the man took the final opening, knocking the creature's arms out of the way before before driving the knife into its throat.

Guts stood up and walked back to Bell, pulling the knife out of his hand and sheathing it before handing it to Bell. "Now you." He said, gesturing towards a new War Shadow that was coming towards the party.

Bell did what he was told. He was amazed at how much easier the new knife sank into the flesh, how it could even cut through bone with less effort the before. He could feel how the thrust flowed into the guarding position a lot faster and smoother than his old slashed. He did as Guts had, hit and running the monster, and throwing stones at it to get it off guard before going in for the kill.

Bell grinned to himself as he saw the monster go down and turned to see Guts' face, only to find that the man was already moving on and hadn't been watching him. His shoulders stank with disappointment.

"Not bad." Bell nearly jumped as Rickert walked over to him. "You need a little work though. When you hold your knife in the neutral position, if should be a little further forward, like this." The older boy said, giving Bell and example with his own copy of the same knife.

"T...thank you. And thanks for the knife." Bell said, looking down at the knife. It wasn't decorated with jewels like some of the swords he had seen in Babel Tower, but it felt different from the weapon he had before. Lighter, stronger, sharper and... something else.

"Don't worry about it. I can make more." Rickert said with a shrug, leaning down at picking up the War Shadow's claw in order to take a closer look at it. "These claws have a metallic component to them... Might be interesting to look at." The young man said, cutting through the monster's wrist and wrapping the hand in cloth before depositing it in his backpack.

"You made this?" Bell said in surprised.

"Yeah, sort of. Erica and I made a lot of them. We lived in a blacksmith store together for three or four years. Picked up a lot of things. Godo said I had a knack for the craft. I also helped make Guts' arm." Rickert said with the kind of pride that only a man who had worked hard on something had.

"What about his sword?" Bell asked, looking at the massive black blade that was peeking out from underneath the man's cape.

"Dragonslayer was Godo's masterpiece. He had to invent most of the techniques involved in making that sword because normal equipment couldn't handle a blade that heavy." Rickert admitted, sounding sad about it. "Next time it will be my turn to reforge it, now that Godo is gone. The way I'm honestly not sure I'm up to the task."

"How...how heavy is it?" Bell asked, wondering just how much a sword that size weighed. Surely they had some kind of magic on it to decrease the weight to make it manageable.

"Three hundred eighty three pounds for the blade itself, with another forty pounds in the handling and guard. Both needed to be made of solid iron and attached with specially designed braces just to handle the weight of Guts' swing." Rickert said with sly grin. Bell's eyes nearly popped out of his head.

Over four hundred pounds!? That was insane! A level one adventurer with five hundred points in strength can lift a hundred pound stone with a little trouble, but Guts moved around as if he didn't even notice, and he had been even when he wasn't even an adventurer. No, he didn't just carry it, he swung it around with ease. How could anyone be that strong? Normally, Bell would have assumed that the man had a special skill to compensate him for the weight, the way most supports do, but this man hadn't had a blessing.

The two of them were brought out of there little talk by an explosion of wind that shook the surrounding stones, dislodging pieces of the ceiling and left dust and bits of small rocks raining down of them.

They looked to the front of the group where Schierke stood with her staff raised. A large pale silver circle of light covered in runes was flouting in front of her. Beyond where the little girl stood was a path that seemed to have been torn to pieces, with slash marks all over the walls as well as blood from all the monsters that had been cut into ribbons.

"You crazy witch! You trying to bury us alive or something!" Isidro shouted at the little witch, but she didn't seem to be listening. She just stared at the magic circle in front of her. She didn't break out of it until she felt Guts' hand on her shoulder. The man didn't say anything but she brushed his hand off as the circle disappeared.

"I'm alright." She said quietly, answering the unasked question.

"What was the circle thing? I don't remember you ever doing that before." Puck said as the pixy flew around them.

"It would seem that it is a product of our new blessing. The circle is a translation of the prayer to the Shine of Sky. It is one of the spells engraved in my soul. It seems that I can now manifest it outside of myself, and because of that, I misjudged the strength of the spell." Schierke said.

"She really is a powerful mage." Bell whispered in awe. He had heard from Hestia that Schierke was able to use over a hundred different spells.

While most of the spells were rather weak or in some cases a utility based magic, it was still rare to find any mage who could cast more than three different spells. Only the spirits and the elven royalty were ever able to do that. To see a human so young able to use so much magic was shocking. Maybe even more so than Guts' strength. You could see Guts' muscles and understand that he is strong, but there wasn't any hint of the girl's true power.

"What are you doing?" Isidro asked Bell as the white haired boy bent over the War Shadow and started to harvest the magic stone.

"Just getting the stone. We should probably stop leaving so many of them behind." Bell said pulling out the stone.

Isidro looked at the piece of magic stone in Bell's hand. "Is that it? Where is the rest of it?" Isidro said looking at shard the size of a fingernail. "Don't bother with that small stuff. The place we went yesterday had stuff as big as your fist."

"Huh? How deep did you go?" Bell asked him.

"I believe it was level eleven." Schierke said as she closed her eyes and turned to her left. "There stairs down to the next level are this way. We should probably get moving."

"What!?" Bell said. "I... I can't go that deep. I'm not ready yet."

"Huh? The stuff there isn't that strong." Isidro said giving Bell a look. "You aren't that weak are you?"

Bell's shoulders sank, but before he could feel too bad about himself, Guts gave the red hair a slap on the back of the head. "You weren't far worse when we first met." Guts said looking down at the boy who's shoulders sank.

"Yes, I recall a certain someone being completely overwhelmed by a single small troll." Schierke said a rare childish smile entering her usual calm expression. "I ended up haven't to save you then too."

"Hey! That's not far!" Isidro shouted before starting to grumble to himself.

"Bell, just how long have you been coming to this dungeon?" Azan asked, scratching his chin.

"About three weeks." Bell admitted weakly.

"Truly? I would have guessed longer." Azan said looking Bell up and down. "You are rough around the edges and lack some basic combat skills and confidence. But I would have assumed you have been fighting for a few months at the least."

"Really?" Bell said. He never got an outside opinion of how he was fighting. Yes Hestia always told him he was doing great, but that was his goddess. She always said stuff like that to make him feel better.

"Everything that you're lacking could easily be gotten by more experience and some careful guidance. Isidro was a quick study. Something tells me you will be an even quicker one." Azan said. The old man had been in the army for years. He knew how well friendly rivalries could push young people.

"In that case, maybe we should split up here." Schierke said looking over the group. "Guts and I will keep going on to the lower floors to gather some larger magic stones while the rest of you work on training against the monsters on this floor. Serpico can watch out for Bell and help him if he seems to get getting overwhelmed."

"Huh! Why do you get to go on with Guts! If you're going, then so am I!" Isidro shouted, stomping one of his feet.

"You aren't going to be hearing a compliant out of me about getting to just sit back, but are you sure the two of you are enough?" Serpico asked the little witch.

"If something goes wrong then I will contact you all telepathically for back up. As for why you should stay here, monkey, it is because you will get stronger by killing a large number of these weaker monster than you would fighting only the handful of ones on the lower floors." Schierke said, looking at the boy she called monkey. Taking a little bit of childish pleasure as he twitched from the key word she had hypnotized into him back when they first met. The spell was long gone, but he still twitched, bracing himself for being forced to act like a monkey before glaring at her.

"What do you mean I'll get stronger?" Isidro said, angry but curious.

"Do you know what the Falna does? It is a spell that converts soul experiences into a type of magical energy called exilia. As you fight monsters and kill them, you gather exilia which is absorbed by the Falna." Schierke said, starting to explain the magic to the boy. "Then the God or Goddess can convert the exilia into actual strength that can be used. So if you fight and kill monsters, they you will get stronger, literally."

"Are you serious!?" Isidro said, his eyes widening. Bell wondered why the red head didn't know this already. It was pretty much common knowledge. It was the entire reason people joined Familias. "Fine, I'll stay, but you better contact us at the first hint of trouble." Isidro said, crossing his arms.

"I'll place down a spell right here that will draw the monsters in so you don't have to waste time looking for them." Schierke said before placing her hand on the ground and starting to mumble something that none of them could understand more than a few snatches of. A large magic circle appeared, just like before, this one glowing with a bright orange light. "Good luck."

She then turned and started towards the floor exit with Guts right beside her.

It wasn't safe for them to all be in a group. It wasn't safe for them to be around the emotionally unstable Guts... and it wasn't safe for them to be around her either.

* * *

 **Schierke finds that being in a world that is closer to the Astral Plane, and the boost to her magic caused by the Goddess's blessing, her spells are a lot more powerful, but in turn it is a lot easier for her to end up possessed by the power, having it run out of control, making her just as dangerous as Guts in his Berserker Armor whenever she casts a spell that calls on the power of a strong spirit/angel.**

 **Her task for reaching level two will be overcoming her fear of using her more powerful spells.**


	8. Chapter 8

Hellhounds, seven of them. Large Shepard like dogs whose black fur rippled like fire in the dull blue glow from the dungeon moss. Each one snarled at the Adventurers, bits of flame escaping between their teeth as they drew in magical fire.

"Sprer asken." Schierke commanded, slipping her hand in a pattern in front of her as a small magic circle half the size of her palm formed in front of her finger. The magical flames that the hounds were drawing on condensed inside of the beasts' mouths before exploding, causing their heads to pop, brain matter and bits of skull to fly in all directions.

Giving a short sigh, the small witch glanced over to where Guts had finished ripping three Minotaurs into pieces. The bull like creatures were wielding large bits of stone, fashioned into weapons by whatever power fueled the massive dungeon, but even if the weapons were as big as Dragonslayer, the massive iron slab shattered them with ease before tearing through the creatures holding them.

She watched with held breath as Guts stood over the downed monsters swinging out his sword so that the blood clinging to it splattered all over the beasts' dead bodies. No matter how many times she saw his displays of strength, it was still amazing to watch.

"So, when are you going to make your move?" Ivalera whispered into Schierke's ear, causing her to jump.

"My move?" Schierke said, not sure what the little pixy meant. Ivalera flew up in front of Schierke's face and the pink pixy crossed her arms.

"You know. You're plan to finally get Guts all to yourself worked. So, make your move already." Ivalera said, giving her friend a playful wink.

"Huh?.. HUH!" Schierke cried, turning red as she rapidly shook her head. She looked to where Guts was standing, cutting open one of the dead Minotaurs with his throwing knife in order to get at its magic stone heart. Seeing that she hadn't gotten the man's attention she turned back to her friend and lowered her voice. "That wasn't my intention at all. And I am not in love with him."

"You can't lie to me. I know how you look at him." Ivalera said, turning Schierke even redder. "Come on, look around you. You're all alone in a deep cavern with no one but each other. The beautiful glow of the cave walls. Isn't it romantic."

"The place smells like death and there are monsters everywhere." Schierke pointed out.

"Its always like that around Guts. I doubt he even notices it." Ivalera said, brushing Schierke's comment off. It was true enough. Guts usually couldn't walk down the street without something dying.

"You're letting your kind's nature get the better of you again." Schierke said with a sigh. Pixies were notoriously goofy and hyper. While Ivalera usually held herself to a higher standard, she sometimes slipped back into pixy nature. "Guts wouldn't love me anyways. I'm just a child."

No matter how mature she tried to act, she was still only half Guts' age. Not only that, she was undeveloped even by her age's standards, something that Isidro constantly reminded her off. The stupid monkey.

"No you aren't, and you know it! Besides, you'll grow up someday." Ivalera said angrily. Schierke wasn't sure if Ivalera was angry at her for being down on herself, or about saying that her friend was acting like a common pixy. "You listen to me. Guts has just lost the person he thought was the love of his life. He's shaken and confused, looking for people he can depend on. People like you. You'll never have another chance like this. You need to get him for yourself before someone else beats you too it."

The little witch closed her eyes. This wasn't her reasoning. She knew that Ivalera just wanted to be helpful, but she didn't want to try to become Guts' lover. He was kind to her, never once blaming her for her mistakes or getting angry at her for acting superior. He had stood with her when she needed to cry and watched out for her when she had rebellious fits. He acted more like the father she never had. Simply being with him was enough for her.

She wasn't even sure if she was really in love with him. In matters like this, she was still a clueless child, one who was too scared of making a mistake to take a risk.

"Oy." Schierke jumped at the sound of Guts' voice coming closer. She quickly reached up and grabbed Ivalera, shoving the pixy into her hat and pulling it down on her head to stop the pink pixy from staying anything to Guts that might embarrass her. Since Ivalera was having one of her moments, it was hard to say just what would come out of her mouth. Schierke turned to Guts to see him looking down at her, his expression as hard to read as ever. "You alright?"

"I... I'm fine..." Schierke said, holding onto her hat with both hands, in order to both stop Ivalera from escaping and to stop Guts from seeing how red her face had become.

Guts looked down at her for a moment before reaching out and patting her head through her hat, causing the girl to tense. "Whatever it is, you don't need to worry." He said before leaving her with her thoughts. Little did he realize he wasn't talking about her flush.

Guts wasn't an idiot, not when it came to tactics. When people did something in battle, he usually was careful to ask himself way. Only people who he would describe as irrationally clever, like Isidro, could ever manage to pull something that Guts couldn't see coming a mile away. It didn't matter if his enemies didn't even have a human form, his battle sense was perfect.

So when someone as smart as Schierke surprises him, it was reason to worry. Her deciding that it is for the best to split up and leave several of there strongest fighters in the back killing small fry while the two of them went on alone, it raised some questions for the man. Even if they could probably handle things themselves, it would have been good to have an extra hand or two around, if only to help carry the plunder. So why was it that she purposefully separated them from the rest of the group? The only possible explanation was that she believed if anyone else went, they would probably die.

Was it because of the Berserker Armor? Was she afraid that Guts might loose control and that she wouldn't be able to drag his soul back from the edge?

Guts could practically feel the breath of the black dog, his own inner demon, against the back of his neck. ' _Is this really one of your comrades? She doesn't trust you, does she? She sees you as a wild beast. And why shouldn't she. After all, your viscously killed your own lover._ ' Guts ignored it. He didn't care about all the horrible things it whispered to him through the Berserker Armor. He would remain in control. ' _Maybe you aren't afraid of me. But she knows I am here. She knows what you are like..._ '

No. It was something else. Separating him from the rest of them wouldn't help her control him if he lost control. What ever it was that was bothering Schierke, it wasn't about Guts' armor.

The smallest of sounds, a fumbling of a pebble, and Guts froze, reaching again for his sword. "Schierke." Guts said, glancing back at the girl.

The witch girl blinked and her eyes widened. "Oh no." She said looking all around them. They were in a wide open cavern with over ten different entrances, and coming from all of the individual caverns was a series of monsters. She had let herself become distracted and hadn't scouted the area with her astral projection. They had walked straight into a huge ambush.

Five Minotaur, eighteen Hellhounds, over twenty of what Schierke could only describe as killer rabbits wielding stone axes, and another dozen rhino sized lions with huge tusks and stripes on their bodies. They seemed to identify Schierke as the easier target and were charging down the slops at her.

Guts attached his crossbow and fired a rain of bolts onto the charging Hellhounds and Killer Rabbits. "Protect yourself." Guts said to the little witch as he fought to buy her time.

"Ivalera!" Schierke shouted, letting the pixy out from under her hat.

"On it!" Ivalera replied already holding the paper runes that would be needed to cast Schierke's barrier.

"Day by day..." Schierke started her chant, trying to clear him mind of the things that were around her and reach out to the power of the spirit kings.

Guts detached the crossbow as the big cats came closer. They were too big to deal with using just the crossbow. His hands gripped around his sword and he let them have it. Cutting off the head of one in a single stroke, so fast that its body seemed to run two more steps forward before the brain registered that it was dead and it fell down to the ground.

But while Guts was dealing with two more of the lions, a Hellhound snuck around him, planted its feet and prepared to fire on Schierke.

"...For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory, for ever and ever." The light of Schierke's barrier came into exitance along with a massive golden magic circle that filled the entire cavern. The monsters inside the circle began to fizzle as their bodies quickly corroded, but still more monsters waited just at the edge of the circle, watching the adventurers.

Schierke's eyes opened slightly as a few of the remaining Hellhounds breathed fire into her barrier. The magic based flames were eaten away by the barrier as it worked to restore the natural order. However, when the flames were absorbed something happened.

Schierke felt something bubbling up inside her, like hot fire in her veins. She breathes became hard as she grit her teeth and her eyes widened. Her entire body started to trembled until her staff slipped from her fingers and clattered the to ground. She felt so angry. But the anger wasn't her own.

"Schierke!" Ivalera screamed as the paper runes burst into flames. The golden magic circle started to change color, darkening into a crimson red.

Guts turned his head at the sound of the pixy's distress and his remaining eye widened at what he saw. Fire was dancing all over Schierke's body as the little girl stood there with a look of complete disgust on her face.

" **You filthy creatures. You dare defile the soul of fire.** " Something said using Schierke's mouth. The fire around Schierke grew stronger and strong until Guts could no long see the girl. Where she had once been standing was a figure made entirely of flames. A male figure, taller than even Guts and holding a sword made of fire. " **I will erase your taint from this world.** "

"Schierke!" Ivalera shouted again, trying to fly over to her only to be pushed back by the heat that was rolling off the girl. The fire blazed outwards, it was going to cover everything.

Guts rushed forward and grabbed Ivalera, quickly shoving her down the neck hole of his armor before pulling up the helmet and ducking down to the ground to try to avoid the rising flames.

" **There will be nothing left of you! No blood! No bones! Just ashe!** " Just as the voice promised, the fire raged outwards, burning everything...

* * *

When Schierke finally came too, it was to the smell of burning corpses.

There was a fur skin that had been inexpertly skinned draped over her and the light of a bonfire against her face. She pushed herself up and looked around her. It wasn't until she saw Guts in his black armor sitting next to a mound of burning monster corpses that she remembered where she was and what had happened.

They were still in the dungeon. She had lost her focus and been possessed by Gedula, the King of Fire, one of the Four Angels. He had used her as a conduit for his divine power in order to destroy the monsters.

It was dark because all of the moss on the cave walls had also been burned. Everything had been burned. Gedula had wished to purge the area of all the monsters. Just how much of the dungeon had been engulfed in flames?

"Schierke! You're awake!" Ivalera cried, flying straight into Schierke's face and grabbing her cheek as the pixy cried her eyes out. "Oh thank goodness! Thank goodness!"

"Ivalera... I'm... I'm..." Schierke tried to say she was fine, but she was so dizzy. She was about to fall backwards when she felt something move behind her, propping her up. It was Guts' metal arm. She looked up at him, but she couldn't see his face through her foggy vision and the poor light.

"Here." Guts said, holding something too her lips. It was a water bag. She drank it thirstily. Not stopping until the bag was drained dry. Then Guts handed her a sandwich.

"W...where did you get this?" Schierke asked Guts as she stared down at the thing. She was pretty sure they had already eaten their lunch and hadn't brought any other food down into the dungeon.

"You've been out for a while. We couldn't move you, not until your soul came back into its body. When we didn't return, Isidro, Serpico and Rickert all came down looking for us. Guts sent them back to the surface to get some supplies." Ivalera said starting to regain some of her composure.

"How long have I been away?" Schierke asked, her head starting to clear.

"Three days. Guts stayed with you the entire time. The others came and went, providing support and moving all the magic stones out of here. They were attracting more monsters." Ivalera explained.

Three whole days. That was longer than it had ever taken her to return from the astral plane before. Gedula must have consumed every last drop of her Od.

Her vision was starting to return. She could see piles of corpses over ten feet tall blocking the entrances, as if Guts had used them as make shift barriers to slow the monster's down as they had to crawl over their own dead. The number of bodies was absurd. The man must have been busy. Her eyes traced around the room before they finally landed on Guts himself.

Schierke stiffened at the sight of him.

The right half of Guts' face was covered in a large burn. It had been cared for by pixy dust, but it had little else done for it. She could also see more burns on his chest underneath his armor. It then struck her the full weight of what she had done. She had could have killed him. If it hadn't been for the Berserker Armor, she would have killed him. She had burned everything in indiscreetly. He had to save Ivalera's life from her.

"Oy, Schierke." Guts said as the girl started to shake.

"I... I'm sorry. I'm sorry." Schierke said, tears coming to her eyes. She fell forward into his arms, crying into his breast plate.

Guts lifted his hand and started to pat her back. "Everything's alright. There ain't anything to be sorry for. Because you told everyone to stay back on the earlier floor, everyone is alright." Guts said as the small girl cried. He understood that Schierke had been afraid that something might have happened, and didn't want to risk anyone other than the seemingly unkillable Guts. "This kind of thing just happens."

Schierke's cries began to be mixed with giggles. 'This kind of thing just happens?' Was that seriously all he had to say? She had been possessed by a nearly god like being and ran wild over everything, and all he says is that 'This kind of thing just happens?'

The strangest thing was, at least around Guts, it was kind of the truth. People just sometimes get possessed. In Guts' mind, it was no big deal. How many times had he himself been possessed by his personal demons. He separated possessed people's actions from the people themselves.

The difference was that Schierke had been the one to reach out to the spirit. She had called on its power, and she had been unable to control it. She felt ashamed of herself, and so very scared. Guts ended up scooping up the little girl in his arms and carried her away.

* * *

There had been evidence of the spirit's fire all throughout the fourteenth floor and even on some of the thirteenth floor. For every drop of Od that Schierke had been drained, Gedula had brought forth enough of his own Mana to burn down an entire house. Seeing it, seeing all the destruction her actions had caused frightened Schierke down to her vary core. She had been halfway possessed before and had ruined a village with a flood while washing away some trolls, but that couldn't even begin to compare.

After a short bit, Schierke began to walk so that Guts would have his arms free to fight. He was still swinging his sword with enough power to split even larger monsters in half, not showing any sign of exhaustion, even though he must have been fighting with little or no sleep for the three days they had been down there.

It was comforting to have him there, ensuring her that everything was fine. He brushed off the burn to his face. After all, there had already been a burn scar there anyways. This just made it a bit bigger as far as he was concerned. He was still the unshakable mountain.

The sun was going down when they finally arrived outside the old church. "You're back!" Hestia shouted, running up to them and throwing her arms around Schierke, since the little girl was the easier one to fit her arms around. Schierke was surprised when the Goddess pulled her head into her cleavage and wouldn't let go, crying all the while about how worried she was for them.

The others came out, Bell echoing the Goddesses statement. The other admitting to only being afraid for Schierke, agreeing that being scared for Guts' safety was a waste of energy. Guts grunted in response to that statement. He most likely agreed to it, worrying was a waste of energy that could be better spent doing something about it.

Guts patted on Hestia's shoulder in order to get her attention and the Goddess looked up at him with teary eyes. "Its been a long day. You should probably take her to get some sleep." Guts said, glancing to Schierke.

Everyone seemed to be agreement with that statement and after the hugs when around people moved towards there sleeping spots.

"Farnese, stay here for a moment." Guts said calling out to the woman before she could go down the stairs in the back.

"What is it?" Farnese asked Guts, returning to where Guts was sitting on the bench.

"I need you and Judeau to heal me." Guts looked up at her with his single tired eye. "Don't let Schierke know about this." Guts said as he undid the clasps on his armor. The Berserker Armor fell off, bits of burned skin pealing off with it. Farnese gasped in horror at the condition of Guts' body. The burns had festered and there was blood and puss everywhere. Entire sections of his skin were missing leaving exposed flesh and muscle tissue. But before she could even begin to ask questions, Guts body went into shock and he slide down to side unconscious.

* * *

 **Yes Guts was fighter for three days and three nights while critically injured. Because that is just what you got to expect for Guts, and the Berserker Armor lets him get away with it.**

 **Next Chapter is going to start with Guts going over the list of his equipment that was ruined by the fire... rest in peace black cape... gonna need another one of those.**

* * *

 **Name: Guts**

 **Level: 1**

 **Race: Human**

 **Strength: B 723**

 **Endurance: A 839**

 **Dexterity: G 271**

 **Agility: G 258**

 **Magic: I 0**

 **Skills:**

 **To epivarýno Atlas (Burden of Atlas): Max stat per level of Strength and Endurance increased to 1999**

 **Ail mac Midna: Provides high resistance against drowsiness, increases the user's ability to stay awake, and increases endurance against the fire element**

* * *

 **Name: Schierke**

 **Level: 1**

 **Race: Human**

 **Strength: I 11**

 **Endurance: I 23**

 **Dexterity: I 7**

 **Agility: I 12**

 **Magic: A 803 (She killed a metric fuck ton of monsters with that one attack)**

 **Skills:**

 **Spirit Healer: Regain magical energy at an accelerated rate**

 **Inner Shrine: Massive increase in magic when in a trance**

* * *

 **Fair warning. I'm getting onto a new medication, and bad medication trials are usually what kill my stories as they ruin the world for me for a little while and it is hard to get back on something afterwards.**


	9. Chapter 9

Rickert looked down at his old masterpiece, Guts' mechanical hand. All the wedges and bearings had been metaled. Everything was jammed together. It was lucky Guts had been out of cannon ammunition, otherwise the entire thing might have been blown to bits from the inside.

The crossbow was goner, most of the bolts had wooden bodies that had been burned away in the fire. The strapped belt that housed all of equipment had been consumed as well, along with Guts' black cape. Even Dragonslayer wasn't completely unscathed, the heat had left cracks in the metal. Not enough to do any real damage to the slab of iron, but enough to ruin its cutting edge. It would need to be refolded sooner rather than later in order to restore its edge. It also need its grip replaced, though that was easy to do even without proper equipment. The priority would have to be Guts' fake arm.

Rickert sighed, putting the fake arm down. "Not really sure what to do Guts. I can't just forge a new arm for you out of thin air."

"I'll do without then." Guts said, shrugging his shoulder.

"Are you really intending to fight with just one arm?" Bell asked, looking at the man in surprise.

Guts reached behind himself and drew Dragonslayer and began to test himself by swinging it around with one arm. Only the few experience fighters noticed the way the man strained himself to start and stop the swings. Though even they were surprised by how well Guts was doing with the single arm. As impossible as it seemed, Guts was getting stronger under the influence of the Goddess's blessing. "Yeah. I'll manage without for now."

"Sorry Guts. Erica and I will look around the city again. See if we can't find a forge house we can use." Rickert said, but then shook his head. "I doubt we will be able to find one. Maybe we should just start building one up from scratch."

"You need to find a forge were you can work?" Hestia asked, walking in on the boy's talking. "If you want I could ask Hephaestus if she would rent you out a forge. Her Familia owns more than half the workshops in the city."

Rickert looked at the goddess with surprise. "Do you really think she would help us?"

"Of course! Hephaestus and I go way back! We've been the best of friends for over four thousand years." Hestia said bouncing her head up and down. Rickert and Guts's mouths twitched.

Four thousand years? Girl looked like she was fourteen... or at least, most of her did.

With how human she looked and acted, it was sometimes hard to remember that she was actually a goddess.

"I have the day off today, so I can introduce you to her." Hestia went on to say.

"Alright then. I'll patch up your arm as soon as I can." Rickert said with a smile.

Guts nodded before getting up and walking towards the door to leave. "Hey! Where are you going!?" Hestia yelled after him. The mammoth of a man glanced back over his shoulder at the little goddess.

"To the dungeon." He said simply, he was about to turn back around but Hestia ran up between him and the door, spreading out her arms to stop him from passing.

"Oh no you don't. You still need to rest. I don't want either you or Schierke going down into that dungeon today. Especially when you only have one arm." Hestia said sternly. She and Guts stared at each other while everyone else exchanged looks.

"Goddess..." Bell mumbled, starting to worry at Guts' extended silence.

"Guts, the Familia has more than enough money to function at the moment. Even if everyone stopped working for the next two weeks, we'd be perfectly fine." Rickert said, glancing at the man. "How about you head up to the forge with us. Might be good to have a look around." Rickert gave the door leading down stairs a glance. "It would also let her save face."

Guts looked down at the younger man. He knew that Rickert was playing him, but he also had a point. Schierke wasn't ready to go down into the dungeon again. She was shaken up by what she had done and needed time to come up with a plan of action. While restricting herself from using any magic was out of the question, she would probably find a way to do something without risking becoming possessed, even if it wasn't to the old standards of her abilities.

But if Guts went in the day after coming back, there was little chance that Schierke wouldn't insist on going as well. If she didn't take a day off to plan for how she would continue, then things might get out of hand.

"Fine." Guts said before going and sitting back down next to Rickert.

"If we are going to be resting for a day, then I will work with Isidro and Bell, teach the two of them a thing or two about fighting. They need a good bit of training." Azan said, scratching at his chin.

"Training?" Bell said. He had never head of people training before. Almost all adventurers just train on the job. You gain more exilia from fighting and killing monsters than you do in practice.

"No matter what foolish storytellers say, the battlefield alone doesn't make skilled warriors. Many things that are key to combat cannot be learned in a fast pace fight, but only through careful trial and error, deep thought, and repetition. If you don't believe me, just ask him." Azan said, gesturing towards Guts.

The Black Swordsman nodded in agreement. That was enough for Bell. If Guts had done it to get as strong as he was, than he would too.

"What are you all talking about?" Farnese asked as she came out of the basement with Erica and Schierke.

"Our goddess is going to be taking Rickert and Erica to see a forge master about getting a place to work, Guts was going to tag along with them. So we are all calling for a day off for everyone in order to prepare for the future." Serpico said as he leaned back on the bench he was sitting on.

"Hm... that's not a bad idea. There have been a few things that we have needed to stock up on. I'll swing by the hospital and tell them that Judeau and I wouldn't be coming in today." Farnese said looking around the room. While the others had been in the dungeon, Farnese had found work at the hospital, where people were healing magic and experience with tying bandages were always in high demand. Judeau had also gone along, partly because of his own healing magic, and partly because they couldn't trust him alone. "Then we can go shopping. Do you want to join us, Teacher?"

Serpico wanted to object to the use of the word 'we', but before he could Schierke was already responding and the moment had passed. "I have had my own list of things I have wanted to do since we got here. Since we have some free time, I think I will work on those."

"Oh, alright then. Tell me if I can be of assistance." Farnese said, giving a short bow of sorts.

Guts looked down at Judeau who had wondered up and grabbed onto his stump of an arm. "Want to come with?" Guts asked the boy who nodded feverishly. "Erica, pack up whatever you need for your workshop. We'll leave once your ready."

* * *

Tsubaki Collbrande flicked around her pencil as she tried to calculate in her head whether or not the numbers for the latest shipment of raw materials added up. It wasn't the half dwarf's favorite pass time, but as the Captain of the Hephaestus Familia, it was her job to help her goddess in any way she could, no matter how absurd, even if Hephaestus never asked her to do it. She would always show her friend and goddess her full support, whether it be in helping out with the paper work, or copying the goddess's tendency to wear an eyepatch so as to make her feel better about it.

Even so, she welcomed the distraction when the Hephaestus Familia headquarter's door opened and sweet little Hestia came in followed by a few others that Tsubaki didn't recognize. She had heard through the grapevine that Hestia had picked up a few new adventurers, but this was her first time seeing any of them. She had never even saw the goddess's first adventurer, even though she had tried to tease Hestia into introducing them. Apparently the big boobed loli goddess was afraid that someone would try to take the boy from her. What was his name again? Bell something?

Hestia hadn't wanted to let Bell be around any pretty girls other than the goddess herself. Tsubaki decided to take the fact that she was worried that the boy might choose her over the Goddess of the Hearth as a compliment. She knew that she was a good looking girl, having a bit of an exotic look about her with her beautiful dark skin, long black hair, red eyes, and her own thin frame with ample chest that she wasn't afraid to show off. Even her copying of Hephaestus in wearing an eyepatch only added to her look. However, she wouldn't say that any of that compared to that special something that all gods and goddesses had that drew the attention of everyone around them and let everyone know who was a god simply by standing in their presence.

"Hestia, good to see you. What brings you around here? Fallen on hard times again?" Tsubaki teased.

Hestia puffed up in the most adorable fashion when teased that the blacksmith couldn't help but to pock at her whenever they were together. "I'll have you know that my Familia is doing just fine now." Hestia said pursing her lips in a pout. It was just too reach.

"Oh, so then you've come to start paying off your debt then?" Tsubaki asked, giving a big smile. Hestia twitched and began to laugh guiltily. "But seriously, what bring you here?" Tsubaki asked leaning forward and resting her arms on the table in front of her.

"A few of my new children are blacksmiths and are trying to find a place to work in the city. We were wondering in we could talk to Hephaestus about renting out one of her workshops." Hestia said.

Tsubaki looked over at the goddesses four 'children'. Two small boys, a young girl and a giant of a man. The large man was the one that caught her attention the most. He wasn't what she would call a good looking man. He had a nice build and good fascial structure, but all that was ruined by the sheer number of scars he had. His right eye seemed to have been ripped out of his skull and the right side of his face had a heavy burn scar. There was also cuts on his nose, scratches above where his right eye should have been and on his jaw, and a burn on his left cheek. He was staring straight at her with his singular left eye, barely blinking and not saying anything. "Hope you didn't get burned working the forge." Tsubaki joked in order to hide her discomfort. Did Hestia seriously pick up someone like this off the streets?

"I'm not a blacksmith." The man said simply, surprising Tsubaki a little with his deep voice.

"Guts and little Judeau are just tagging along. Its Rickert and Erica who are the blacksmiths." Hestia explains gesturing over to two of her other children.

They looked a lot more like what Tsubaki would have expected from members of a newer Familia. One was a boy just over five feet tall with blond hair tied up in a ponytail that came down to the base of his neck. He had a very youthful face and honest blue eyes. The other was a girl, who also had blond hair, though hers was more wavy and tied up in a bun. Though she was about the same height as Hestia, she managed to look ever younger with her large green eyes and baby face.

"Aren't you a little young to be running your own workshop?" Tsubaki asked them with a raised eyebrow, it was the only visible eyebrow she had.

"I'm nineteen." Rickert said, his mouth twitching.

"No way!" Tsubaki said looking the boy up and down. She would have guessed he was about fourteen, fifteen at the most. He looked so young. "What's your secret? I know a lot of girls who would love to keep themselves looking so young." Rickert brushed and started to grumble under his breath. Chuckling Tsubaki turned to Erica. "How about you? Are you eighteen or something?"

The girl shook her head. "No, I'm eleven."

"Of course you are." Tsubaki said, reaching out and patting the little girls head. This time it two years younger than the half-dwarf would have guessed. "Well, lets get down to business. You bring a portfolio or something?" They looked at her with a blank expression. "You know, any examples of your work."

"Yeah, we've brought some with us." Rickert said before they started to unload a large number of blades, arrows, and empty bomb casings. Tsubaki looked at everything they pulled out with some interest.

None of it was that amazing, but it could still hold up against anything one of their level one blacksmith could make, even though it seemed to be made without any special materials gotten from the dungeon. "Not bad. Not bad at all." Tsubaki said as she tested on of the knifes on a piece of flex, finding that it cut it with ease. Then Tsubaki saw the fake arm. "Oh, did you two make this?" She said lifting it up.

Prosthetics weren't unique, but they were usually made by higher class smiths who specialized in that sort of stuff.

It was a rather heavy thing, heavier then they usually made prosthetics. It was clearly something that was meant for hard use. Though given the size of the arm, it must have been meant for a big guy. A quick glance at Guts confirmed what she had already expected as the lower part of the man's left arm was missing.

"These thing looks like it had seen some better days." Tsubaki commented as she checked the joints and observed the fire damage.

"Yeah, it is one of the things we need to repair." Erica admitted, rubbing the back of her head.

"I'd say." Tsubaki said, wiggling the fingers a bit before looking at it more closely."Hm... That's weird."

"Something the matter?" Hestia asked, being draw in by her own curiosity.

"Yeah, I can't find the enchantment on this thing. How does he control the fingers without them?" Tsubaki asked.

"We don't know how to do any enchanting." Rickert admitted. "Instead there is powerful magnets in the palm of the hand and in the fingers to help form a grip which can be released by twisting the wrist a little."

"You mean like this?" Tsubaki asked, twisting the wrist in the wrong direction, making the hand slide down to reveal the empty cavity inside. "Huh, what's this about?"

"That's where we installed the cannon!" Erica shouted proudly.

"C...cannon?" Tsubaki said in surprise, her one eye widening. They spent another few minutes showing off the arm to Tsubaki who laughed with every new feature they showed her. "Alright, you two have made your point. Hell I think my Goddess would get a kick out of meeting the two of you. Hell she might even offer you a place in the Familia."

"What!? But they are my children!" Hestia shouted defensively, grabbing onto Erica and pulling the girl into her chest. "No way! Not even Hephaestus can have them!"

"Wow, easier there Hestia, I was only kidding." Tsubaki said, chuckling at the Goddess's response. "So, anything else you want to show me?"

"We'll, we did to a bit of work on Guts' sword." Erica said, looking up at Guts.

Seeing the look, Guts drew Dragonslayer off his back and rested it on the floor for the woman to look at. "Hm, sure is a big thing." Tsubaki said, checking out the edge a bit. "Also has some fire damage and needs repair." Then the woman grabbed onto the handle with both hands and two everyone in the room's surprise she started to lift it. "By Ouranos's balls this thing is heavy!"

Rickert, Erica and Guts were all surprised that the thin woman could even lift it, while Tsubaki and Hestia were both shocked at how much the half-dwarf struggled just to keep her footing.

Tsubaki lifted the massive sword up with both hands. Sure she might not have been the strongest level five out there, since she leveled up every time her strength reached five hundred points, but still. She could hardly carry the sword around with both hands, but this Guts guy had lifted it off his back with only a single arm.

"It feels like its made of nothing but solid iron!" Tsubaki grumbled as she pulled the sword up and rested it on her shoulder, only to have to struggle again to not fall over from the odd balance.

"It is." Rickert admitted weakly.

Tsubaki looked at him in dumb shock. "Nothing but solid iron? Are you serious? Why didn't you put a lightening charm on it or something?"

"Would have defeated the whole point." Guts said crossing his whole arm with the stumped one. "Its supposed to be heavy enough to break through anything."

"Yeah, but its just too heavy to even be used. You'd need to be a level five just to be able to wield this stupid thing. Even then it would slow you down in a fight. What level are you to be able to lift the thing with one hand?" Tsubaki asked, looking at Guts with the expression that most people did when they saw Dragonslayer. A look somewhere between fear and disbelief.

"Um... Tsubaki, could you promise never to tell anyone about this?" Hestia asked the woman, pushing her fingers together and looking down at the ground like a guilty child.

"About what?" Tsubaki asked.

"Guts is... a level one. He just received his Falna four days ago." Hestia said, squirming a little.

Tsubaki looked at the Hestia, then back at Guts, then back to Hestia. "...No fucking way."

"Please keep it quiet. I don't want to know what would happen if the other Gods found out." Hestia said, putting her hands together and look up at the dark skinned woman with puppy dog eyes.

"Wow, put those dangerous weapons away, I got it. I won't tell anyone but Hephaestus." Tsubaki said, staggering away from the eyes while trying to keep the sword balance, only to fall backwards, causing the massive blade to be driven into the wooden floor with a loud crunch.

"Tsubaki? What was that sound?" Tsubaki gulped as she turned her head to the door to see Hephaestus standing there having returned from her day's work.

The Goddess of the Forge was dressed in her usual white blouse, tight blue jeans and thick leather glovers that she usually wore. She was always dressed like she was in a forge, unless she was at one of those banquets she hated so much. She knew that many of the other gods and goddesses looked down on her because of her right eye, mocking her for the fact that she covered with a large black eyepatch.

Even so, she had a mature beauty about her, with her womanly curves and long bright red hair that reached down her back, which she tied together to make sure it didn't get in the way of her work.

"Go...goddess! Back so early?" Tsubaki said, forcing a smile.

"I told you I would be ba..." Hephaestus started as she looked over the room. She saw Hestia there, and was glad to see her friend, especially with rumors saying she was doing better than before. But that hadn't been wait caused her to stop mid sentence. No, she had lost her words as she saw the massive slab of steel that was driven into her floor. Her left eye widened as she stared at it. As the goddess of the Forge, she could instantly judge any material on sight alone, and that sword... "Tsubaki, where did this sword come from?"

"It... it's his." Tsubaki said, pointing to Guts, hoping to pin things on him. Guts didn't even bother to object to being blamed.

Hephaestus walked up to Dragonslayer, placing one hand on it and shivering. Then she looked over at Guts. "I will give you five hundred million valis for this sword!" She said seriously, causing both Hestia and Tsubaki's jaws to drop open.

"Dragonslayer isn't for sale." Guts said, not carrying to even think about the massive amount of money she just offered him.

"One billion." Hephaestus offered again.

"It isn't about the price." Guts replied.

"Ten billion then!" Hephaestus shouted angrily. Guts only glared back at her, a growl forming in the back of his throat.

"Goddess, please. The sword is just plain iron. The sword itself is in disrepair! Its hardly worth ten thousand valis, let alone ten billion." Tsubaki said, trying to calm her Goddess down.

"Just plain iron? Tsubaki, this isn't 'just plain iron'." Hephaestus said, looking at her captain as if she had just committed sacrilege. "This sword is made of pure pixy iron that had been soaked in the blood of thousands of demons night after night until their ethereal essence merged with the metal, elevating it into an existence that surpasses the limits of the mortal realm."

Hephaestus stuck her face against the flat surface of the blade, rubbing her cheek against it as a school girl's blush spread across her face. "Oh the things I could do with this kind of metal, and there is so much of it too. I could make five swords that could reach the level of those I made with my full godly power. Weapons that could even kill gods in their truest forms." Hephaestus said, not noticing how Hestia and Tsubaki paled at the mention of killing gods. A tear rolled down the goddess cheek onto the blade.

Guts pulled Dragonslayer out of the ground causing the Goddess to stumble about. "Like hell!" Guts growled, shoving the slab of metal back into its holster. "If you want Dragonslayer, you are going to have to pry it out of my cold dead hands! The only way you will have it is by getting it driven through your chest!"

"Guts!" Hestia shouted in surprise.

"Guts, calm down!" Rickert said, seeing the helmet of the Berserker Armor starting to rise.

"You can't talk that way to the Goddess!" Tsubaki objected, trying to get between the angry Guts and Hephaestus.

"I don't give a damn if she is a goddess! The old man made this sword! I'm not going to piss on his grave by letting some cow melt it down!" Guts shouted, the helmet nearly completely over his head. Its eyes started to glow red. Bloodlust was rolling off if him in waves, paralyzing everyone in the room with fear. Rickert grabbed Erica and started to make for the windows, since the door was too far away. They might have been on the second story, but if Guts lost it, it would be their best chance for survival.

"Ummgh!" Judeau cried out in an unintelligible fashion, pulling on Guts' arm. Guts froze and the Berserker Armor started to dormant state as the boy's energy moved into it, calming Guts' rage. Guts looked down at the little boy who stared up at him with his big dark eyes and sighed before patted the boy on the head.

"What... was that?" Hestia asked, still shaking.

"That is why you must never make Guts mad." Rickert said with a sigh of relief, stopping in the act of pulling the window open. He was glad they had brought Judeau along.

Hephaestus started to walk forward towards Guts. "Goddess wait." Tsubaki said, trying to stop her, but Hephaestus brushed her off.

Walking up in front of Guts, she bowed. "I didn't realize you had a personal bond with the sword's maker. I'm sorry. I should have never asked you to part with it." She said sincerely.

"...Its fine." Guts said looking away from her. He would never regret anything he said. He just hated himself for almost going kill crazy on a bunch of women.

Hephaestus straightened herself a sad smile on her face as she glanced over Guts' shoulder with a look of longing. But then she shook her head. "So Hestia, why did you come here in the first place?" Hephaestus said, trying to drag everyone away from the topic of Guts' sword.

Hestia swallowed and began to explain about Rickert and Erica looking for a place to work. Hephaestus realized that the two of them were the ones who would be performing maintenance on Dragonslayer. Suddenly all of their previous work 'wasn't good enough' even though it far exceeded their usual standards for level ones.

Hephaestus basically forced the two of them to accept apprenticeships from her, saying that she was going to work them to the bone until they met her standards. Eventually, Hestia, Guts and Judeau were all sent away so the others could concentrate on their work.

Rickert and Erica quickly learned to regret every going to meet that Goddess of the Forge.


	10. Chapter 10

"W...What's going on?" Hestia stammered in surprise as she stared up at the little church that she called home. Nearly a hundred miniature clay golems, each only coming up to the goddess's waist crawling all over it with various tools and materials as they repaired the run down building.

Not only repairing it, they were assembling another building along side it, as well as planting a garden and setting up a picket fence.

"Forgive me Goddess, I began work repairing your shrine without waiting for your approval." Schierke offered her apologies to the goddess, less out of need then out of old custom. Her lady had always said to never upset higher beings that you might need a favor from.

"No! Thank you, really!" Hestia said, feeling embarrassed as the small witch bowed to her. Hestia never saw herself as the kind of Goddess that people should bow to. The Hearth is of the home and the home should be a casual and comfortable place. "I'm just surprised to see so many golems. Where did they all come from? Golems are really expensive."

"Yes, the grasses used in forming the Golems' cores were more costly then I would have liked. It was almost bad enough for me to forget the whole thing and just plant the seeds and wait till they grow, but the metals needed in anchoring the enchantment were cheep enough to make up for that." Schierke explained. "Still, all the building materials did eat into our reserves a little. We will have to return to work tomorrow if we want to have enough money to complete the barracks. Till it is complete, the boys will just have to keep sleeping in the church."

"At least the holes have been patched up now, so we don't need to... worry about the rain." Serpico said with a short yawn as he leaned lazily back against one of the rusted sections of fence, watching both Bell and Isidro receiving their lessons from Azan.

Hestia stared in shocked silence. Golems were mystic constructs, as rare as magic weapons and just as costly. While it was possible for someone with the right knowledge and enough magical power to create one, normally no one save for individuals who had grown to level two or above and unlocked the 'Mystery' Development Ability would be able to make it. Such people were heavily sought after, even in a place like Orario, there were probably only a handful of individuals who could make them.

She really needed to stop thinking about her new children by the same standards as the rest of that mortal realm, since they weren't from that mortal realm.

None of them had straight out and told her they were from another world, but they didn't really make any attempt to hide it either. They often talked openly about people, places and events that had never happened. Of wars and kings of kingdoms that didn't exist. Not to mention their skills that exceeded what they should have been capable of and their lack of common knowledge.

The existence of other worlds was no secret among the gods, and Hestia had known that they were from another world the moment she had first seen Guts' brands. Those cursed marks where a remnant of magic that had never touched their current world. The fact that Guts had somehow managed to get two such sacrificial marks and lived was a true testament to his strength. Given the fact that he would have to fight his way through entire armies of demons in order to escape with his life.

Hephaestus probably also knew at this point, but that was alright, she wouldn't tell anyone. However, Hestia knew better than to let the other gods know about it.

It wasn't as though other worlders were some kind of taboo, after all, the gods themselves were 'other worlds'. However, if anyone really understood what her new were, they would probably have jealous fits, and a small Familia like hers couldn't survive that kind of attention.

Many gods believed that Humanity had lost something when they had descended into the mortal plan. Real heroes had become something scarious, not a single one having been born in over five hundred years. The mortals had become lazier, and all strength, skill and magic stemmed from the gods. The fire that had once driven the mortals to achieve feats that could live on in legends for hundreds of years seemed to have gone out.

They just didn't make 'em like they used to.

"Any improvements?" Guts asked, moving up next to the lazy blond and staring over to were Azan was working with the kids.

"You tell me." Serpico said with a chuckle.

The old knight was having a rough time with it as while Bell was focused to every word he said, Isidro constantly was trying to act up. Isidro would push the man's boundaries more and more until the knight snapped and the two would break into a fight. The result being a hard beating of the red headed boy at the end of Azan's practice sword.

"Damn brat, if you don't start picking up some of the basics your never going to amount to shit!" Azan growled after having overwhelmed at knocked Isidro to the ground for the fifteenth time. "You still haven't improved your stance after your faints! Mistakes like that cost in blood, boy!"

"Shut it your old bastard..." Isidro said as he started to pick himself up only to be smacked again. "HEY! Hitting a man while he's down! I thought you were a knight!"

"You think any of those monsters will give a damn about chivalry!? I'm not going to let you get used to having all the time in the world to get up, not on your feet!" Azan shouted, emphasizing his point by striking out at Isidro, forcing the boy to roll out of the way and move into an awkward crouch, picking up a rock with his free hand as he did so.

"Bastard!" Isidro shouted, throwing the rock at the knights head, causing the man to take a step back to let the rock sail by. Isidro rushed again, but his rock throw hadn't actually accomplished anything, leading to him fighting it out with a more than prepared Azan. Seven clashed later, he was back on the ground.

"Fool, if you don't produce an opening, don't charge in anyways." Azan said shaking his head before looking up to where Guts was standing. "I give up. You try teaching the brat." The old knight said starting to walk towards Guts in order to tag out.

Guts gave a grunt and walked in, taking the practice sword from Azan before standing in front of the two kids who both seemed much more alert than before.

Azan walked over and sat down next to Serpico, keeping his head held high as he watched Guts correcting the children's stances and grips before giving them some simple forms to practice. Once the old man was convinced that the kids weren't paying him any more mind, he dropped the act.

With a loud groan his entire body sank. "What is with this next generation." He grumbled, reaching up and rubbing his shoulder. "They are growing too damn fast. I don't know how much longer I can keep this up."

"Who knows." Serpico said with a shrug. "With the Goddess's blessing, Isidro is getting stronger at a faster rate than before. Still, it takes more than strength and speed to make a good fighter. If he doesn't practice his footwork he is going to get himself in serious trouble sooner or later. Bell on the other hand... He picks up things fast, and isn't as hot headed as our little monkey. He's a talented kid." Hestia smiled, hearing the blond knight praising her favorite child.

"Much like you were." Azan said with a nod. "Only not nearly as lazy."

Serpico chuckled. "Thanks for the flattery, but I was not talented at all. I just kept getting lucky." The blond said, earning a glare for the older knight who knew how full of shit he was.

"Sometimes I wonder what you would have been able to accomplish if you had just put some effort into it." Farnese said, coming up behind them in her new white and blue dress.

Serpico and Azan did their knightly best to keep their eyes in check. The style and complexity of standard clothing in this new world was far richer than back in their old one. What they would have considered high class dresses were sold in normal market stations. The problem the former knights were having was that they tented to be a bit more... revealing then the clothing they were used to.

Serpico had tried to talk to his half sister about it, but as usual she didn't listen to a word he said and went along with it anyways. He got the distinct impression that rather than being depressed or worried at having been thrown into another world where she would never see the rest of her family ever again and everything she once knew and worked for had been left behind, she was fascinated by it, by this world and its culture. If given the option to return, she would probably decline.

He blamed Guts. He didn't know why, he just did.

"Still, they both lack a feel for the flow of battle. It is something that they need to be taught soon." Azan said as Guts threw a few light attacks at the boys, knocking them about before snapping at them to recover their footing and counter attack. "Anyone who doesn't understand will simply be a liability on the battlefield."

"Is... is that so." Schierke mumbled to herself, looking down at the ground.

"Teacher, is something the matter?" Farnese asked the little which.

"No. If you would excuse me, I need to get something." Schierke said, moving back towards the church, Azan's words playing in her head.

She could no longer use the greater spirits to form barriers and wards to protect herself in battle. While this didn't mean she was defenseless, if did change how she would have to approach every conflict. She could no longer simply throw her power around in the way she once had.

However, in the past, she had been a liability on the battlefield, requiring others to protect her when she attempted to cast her spells. Now with her most powerful ones rendered to dangerous for her to consider, would she just be holding everyone else back?

Bell and Isidro were growing quickly under the influence of training and the Goddesses blessing. If they could do it, then perhaps she could as well. Retrieving a silver dagger from her own store of materials she returned to other.

* * *

"Wha?.. You want... to train!?" Isidro said incredulously through his pants for air. Both him and Bell looked to be on the verge of collapsing. While training and sparing with Azan was like fighting a skilled master with a short fuse, doing so with Guts was like trying to maintain your footing in the middle of a landslide.

Schierke ignored Isidro's comment, she was only looking at Guts. She held his eye as he measured her resolve. Finally he simply shrugged. "You want to learn how to fight, fine. It ain't hard." He said. Schierke gave a silent sigh of relief. She figured he wouldn't say no, but it had still felt strange for her to ask it of him. Unfortunately, he wasn't finished talking. "Though if you are going to training, your witch's robes are going to get in the way."

Some of the boys tensed up a bit at the mention of the witch's clothes. It was widely known and accepted among them that you simply don't say anything negative about Schierke's witch's garb unless you wanted to learn how to quack like a duck. As mature as Schierke usually acted, she could be quite vindictive when it came to her witch's outfit.

The little witch bit her lower lip as she shifted around in her robes. True enough, she was completely unable to run or more in any complex manner inside of those robes. A witch's robes were meant to protect her from spilt potions or wild magic energy, so it needed to cover just about everything. Such things didn't allow for free movement.

"Yes... I suppose I will need something different for training and going to the dungeon." Schierke admitted weakly. She had been so happy about the lack of attention her witch's garb had drawn in this new world, yet she was going to have to exchange it anyways. "These means that my training will have to be delayed, doesn't it?"

"Um, actually..." Farnese said, getting the little witch's attention. "I know you said you didn't want any new clothes but... I thought you might change your mind, so I asked one of the shop keeps what magic using adventurers usually wore and bought you something."

"Thank you, Farnese." Schierke said, feeling only a little weird about this. It was for the best. It wasn't like Schierke herself had any experience picking out clothes.

"I also got something for Guts to wear, so he wouldn't need to have the Berserker Armor on all the time... or so we could at least clean it." Farnese said, glancing to the Black Swordsman. The black metal was still covered in dry blood of both the man and the various things he had overkilled.

Guts actually chuckled at the statement before looking over at the exhausted children. "Guess you two are getting a short break."

* * *

 **I warned you people that medication trials kill my stories, they ruin my grove and I just lose interest in the world. You don't know how hard it was for me to force this thing out, and it isn't even very good. Who knows if I will be able to get another.**

 **However, even if I haven't been able to write that doesn't mean I haven't been thinking about some prompts. I've put up a few fun ones in my profile. Check them out.**

* * *

 **Someone asked if healing in the Danmachi world is good enough to regenerate peoples arms. The answer is no. Someone in the light novel loses and arm and it is replaced by one made of silver.**


	11. Chapter 11

Bell stumbled, struggling to regain a sense of footing before Guts smacked him down to the ground again.

It was insane, practicing with the man. What was even more insane was the knowledge that he wasn't even taking it seriously. Even without a blade or his metal arm, even with him purposely slowing down his strike and rushes so that they could have time to react, even with Isidro, Schierke and himself all going against him at once, Guts was unstoppable. The weight behind his attacks was simply too much for them to block and the percussion and length of his strikes was simply too much.

Guts was so confident in his abilities that he told them to use their real weapons and for Schierke to use whatever magic she could manage to get off against him in their sparring. None of it mattered, not one bit. Not only did Guts still fend them all off, he did so while not even using enough of his strength to even hurt them, pulling back at each attack in order to make it a shove instead of a solid blow.

Guts told them not to try to fully block his attacks. That when they deal with monsters that were larger than them, you needed to give a little, redirecting the force and shift your own body rather than stopping it. Bell could only wonder if this was what it was like to fight a Minotaur.

Bell started to wonder if the Minotaur was even that scary when compared to the Black Swordsman. Even out of his dark armor and into a much more casual short sleeved black tunic and trousers he still moved about with a visible, unstoppable strength, his black cloak billowing behind him. His huge muscles and numerous scars on his arms were on display for the world to see.

Guts didn't just use his practice sword to attack them, he used his entire body, pressing up against them to stagger them if they weren't prepared to move out of his way, or knocking their attacks aside with his cloak. More then once he flattened Isidro with the stubbed arm when the boy tried to attack him from his weak side and left himself open.

"Pincree Zes..." Schierke started before having to try to get out of the way of one of Guts' moves, tripping on his practice sword and falling to the ground.

"You can't stand still so close. Get distance before casting." Guts instructed even as he moved on to deal with Isidro who was rapidly hopping backwards to lure Guts out from the other two.

"You alright?" Bell asked Schierke as she helped the little witch back to her feet. She didn't waste her breath with an answer, she lifted up a handful of leafs that she had grabbed from the ground in front of her.

She took a breath, closed her eyes and blew onto the dried leafs, causing them to leap from her hand and catch fire.

Hearing the crackle of the flames, Guts twisted his cloak around his stumped arm and swung it out as he spun around, batting away the fire before turning his attention back to Bell and Schierke.

Isidro tried to regain Guts' focus with an attack to his back but the Black Swordsman swung out his cloak again, knocking Isidro's sword aside and tangling him up in the fabric as Guts pulled on the metal buckle on Dragonslayer's harness. The cape slipped free and Isidro was left on the ground in a mess as Guts moved towards Bell and Schierke.

Bell gulped but did as he was supposed to, moving forward and a bit to the side before preparing his footing, ready for the charging bull.

Guts' swing was aimed low, forcing Bell to give a half step backwards, then he caught the upswing of the practice sword which knocked him off his feet and physically pushed him through the air.

He somehow managed to land on his feet, but his footing wasn't as good as before, and Guts' was still coming. He couldn't be able to absorb the hit. He was going to get knocked over again.

Seeing the practice sword coming towards him, Bell did the only thing he could do at the moment, he swung his own long dagger with all the strength his current footing would allow.

The steel caught Guts' wooden sword and to Bell's surprise, the practice sword was ripped into splinters. Only then did Guts pull back in his attack.

Bell blinked at the man, surprised to see a grin on his face. Not a condescending grin or one of some battle crazed person, but a look of pride. "Good work." He said, tossing the broken practice sword to the side. "Remember, your opponents are monsters. Even the claws and fangs they attack you with are going to be weak spots. Don't be afraid to take advantage of them."

Seeing Bell just staring at him seemingly unable to move and panting for breath, Guts shrugged. "You've all had enough for today. Your trainings over." The mountain of a man said moving over to Isidro and retrieving his cloak before continuing towards where he had left Dragonslayer. Though it seemed that while the children's training had ended, Guts' hadn't as he then started to swing the sword about with his single arm.

'What was his endurance stat like?' Bell wondered only to remember who he was dealing with. None of the normal logic fit when considering Guts.

"Bell!" The boy didn't even have time to react to his goddess's happy shout before the tackle came, knocking him off his already unsteady feet and pinning him to the ground in a powerful hug. "You all did so well! I'm so proud of you!" She cheered as she squeezed the life out of the weakened adventurer.

"Goddess, you're... hurting me..." Bell said between gasps for air.

"Teacher, how do you feel?" Farnese asked Schierke who had fallen to the ground.

"I... am fine. I'm just... using the power of the Earth to regain my strength..." Schierke lied as she closed her eyes. "I think... I am beginning to understand why adventurers... would prefer clothes like these. It's harder... to tell when it is covered in dirt and grass."

When Farnese had asked for clothes often worn by magic users, the shop keeper had sold her traditional elven clothes. Schierke's new outfit was a tunic and trousers both with leaf like designs made by a swirl of green and brown colors and a short of hood made to look like a large leaf curled around her head.

Farnese, Ivalera, and Hestia had assured her that the clothes looked cute on her. However, one off handed comment made by Isidro about how the tight shirt and pants made her look like a little boy, and Schierke went on a war path. This led to him being hypnotized into believing that he was really a girl for a few minutes as punishment. While Puck, Ivalera, and Hestia laughed, many of the other people around paled at the sight of Isidro crying like a little girl about how the witch 'took away my breasts' and 'there's a weird snake thing between my legs'. She only returned his mind to normal at the request of Guts so that they could start training.

It was a reminder to all, Schierke was a witch, and was best not messed with. However the reminders never seemed to stick with Isidro.

"You can't even stand up." Isidro said still walking around just fine, even if he was breathing heavily. He was more used to training with Guts and his endurance stat was higher from a few days of grinding against weaker monsters. "You didn't even more around that much."

"Shut up... Monkey." Schierke grumbled weakly.

"You all did well, far better than I would have expected, though your group coordination is still lacking." Azan told them scratching at his mustache.

"'Did well'? But, Guts beat all of us. We didn't even get a single hit on him, even with us all attacking at once." Bell said, a little dejected. "He wasn't even really trying. If he was holding back so he wouldn't hurt us."

"Yes. He was." Azan admitted with a nod. "I think you underestimate how well you did. Or perhaps you have underestimated just how strong he is." Bell looked surprise at the statement. He was underestimating Guts? "Let me tell you a little story. It will probably help you understand. The first time I ever set eyes on Guts, the two of us fought against each other."

"What? Why?" Bell asked. While Guts couldn't be said to be overly friendly with anyone other than Richert, he and Azan didn't seem to have any problems with each other. People don't normally fight each other when they had first met.

"I'm afraid that there had been misunderstandings, or should I say, we had accused Guts of crimes that he was, for the most part, innocent of." Azan admitted guiltily, Farnese sharing the look.

"In our defense, there was a lot of things going on, and all the evidence pointed towards Guts being guilty." The blond woman said.

"He also just looks like the type." Serpico said with a chuckle, earning himself a glare.

"Anyways. On that day, I fought Guts. I remember being surprised how well he held up against me, the two of us were on about equal footing." Azan said before giving a pitiful laugh and shaking his head. "I only found out afterwards that Guts had been walking for over fifteen miles while sporting what should have been a fatal stab wound. It was incredible that he was even conscious, let alone fighting. Even so, I still couldn't overwhelm him, someone who was half dead. The fight only ended when he collapsed from blood lose."

"He had also not eaten anything or slept in over two days, and had spent the previous night fighting alone against an army of skeletons." Puck said, deciding to pitch in his own two cents.

Azan continued to laugh at himself. "I was supposed to be the famed Knight of the Bridge, someone who had fought an entire Company of horsemen by himself, one of the finest knights in the land, and I failed to overcome a opponent with that kind of handy cap." Azan said. "Listen here. Even if Serpico and I both tried to fight Guts at once, I doubt we could overcome him. We might not even be able to lay a hand on him without dirty tricks or some kind of magical advantage."

"He... he's really that strong?" Bell said looking at Guts with wide eyes. Bell hadn't even been able to lay a single hand on Azan, but the old man confessed that Guts was simply behind him.

"Perhaps if I was a younger man, I would be swearing up and down that I would someday be as strong as he is, but I am simply too old." Azan said before giving Bell a look. "But you are not as old as I am. Perhaps someday it will but Guts turn to look at you and wonder when he had been surpassed. Never stop trying."

"Right." Bell said, not even realizing he had admitted his ambition.

"Good, now the sun is going down. How about we all head out and find a place that serves a fine meal. Food is nearly as important as training if you want to get any stronger." Azan said with a loud laugh, slapping Bell on the back and making the boy stumble falling to the ground. "It will also help you get your strength back."

* * *

"The Benevolent Mistress? You sure it is a place that sells food and not... other things." Serpico said, raising an eyebrow at the name.

"Other things?" Bell said, not immediately catching onto what the blond knight was implying, but once he did he flushed. "No!.. At least I don't think so. You don't get that kind of things on this side of the city. All that stuff is in the Entertainment District on the south east side of the city."

"Bell, why do you know that?" Hestia said suspiciously, narrowing her eyes.

"Well, um, Eina told me to avoid that place. Said it wasn't very safe." Bell explained, confused as to why the goddess was acting upset.

"And who is Eina?" Hestia pressed.

"Eina? She's our adviser at the Guild. She's a really nice person." Bell said cheerfully, not noticing that it made Hestia upset to hear him complementing another girl.

"Still, with a name like the Benevolent Mistress, I would usually expect either prostitutes or assassins. Perhaps both." Serpico said, scratching his chin.

"It's an attention grabbing name, good for getting more customers." Guts said, nodding in agreement. "But if you give yourself a name like that, you are either putting out or you are sure enough that you can crack the skulls of anyone who came around with the wrong impression that it doesn't matter."

"No way, all the girls there are all really nice." Bell said, still not noticing his goddess's reactions to his words.

"Doesn't matter, most brothels serve pretty good food anyways, its just a bit more expensive." Isidro said as he walked along with his hands behind his head.

"And how would you know that?" Farnese asked giving the red head a glare.

"Brothels are the best places to pickpocket nobles at. They're all usually too drunk to see or have their eyes distracted by tits." Isidro admitted. "Plus, the girls will usually help you do it if the bastard is unpopular enough."

"So you claim you didn't go to them to serve your own base instincts." Schierke scoffed, giving Isidro a glare.

"Wait, did he just admit he was a thief?" Bell said, though no one seemed to care.

"As if I need to go to a place like that. I'm going to become greatest man of all time, a real hero, and then women will just throw themselves at me. I don't need a who..." Isidro started only to be given a hard smack to the back of his head.

"Dammit boy, I need to beat some sense of Chivalry into you! Saying such things in the middle of the streets!" Azan snapped at Isidro as they all continued on, ignoring the red hair who was bitching about his bit tongue.

Bell was still staring at Isidro, surprised about the open admission about being a thief but even more surprised by the comment about women throwing themselves at a hero. It sounded like something Bell's grandfather would have said.

Before Bell could say anything, Isidro stopped complaining and shut his mouth, his ears pricking a bit and his eyes widened as he looked down a side alley, then without a word, he broke into a run.

"Hey, where are you going!" Bell shouted after him before starting to give chase.

* * *

 **Going to be mixing up the order of events a bit. Lili is going to be introduced now, and the Hestia Knife is going to be introduced later.**

 **First an mini arc for Lili, followed by the introduction of the principle antagonist, The Idea of Evil, recast to be Avenger from the Fate universe.**

 **Schierke is rather vindictive towards people who call her a little boy, and uses hypnosis to get her revenge. Because of the way she is dressed and her magic, people are going to start assuming she is part elf.**


End file.
